Canister Purge Solenoid

I am looking into cleaning the canister purge solenoid. Any ideas on the best way to do it without screwing anything up?

Why do you want to clean it? Is it throwing a code? The canister purge solenoid valve will fail after so long. They all do. I tried replacing mine with a junkyard valve and it was also crap. I didn't feel like gambling anymore so I bit the bullet and bought a new one from the dealer for $110. No more CEL.

 

However, there was no noticeable gain in performance or MPG and there are some of the opinion that a bad canister purge solenoid is not a detriment to how the vehicle operates. sqc151 suggested to place the solenoid on top of the intake manifold and rerout the vacuum lines leading to it. I followed his suggestion and it is much easier to access the solenoid now. You have the 22E so it is a bit easier for you to get at it than the 22T.

I already decided on rerouting it for sure. OMFG is a "B" to get to!! Whoever decided to place it in the middle of a crowded area under the intake manifold...Really???? At least I finally found it though. I just heard that cleaning it may help. I wouldn't mind if it didn't work.

I guess they thought that it would last forever and clean up the look of the engine bay, lol. Yeah, they suck to get at. I had to take the turbo off to get to mine. I love having the shiny new one one top though.

 

But are you getting CELs? The CEL for the canister purge control solenoid valve is 35, ha ha.

Yes. The only code. I know it doesn't really effect mpg's too much, but I don't want to have to deal with it closer to emissions down the road.

I was worried about CELs for passing safety and emissions, but in Utah an old car like mine can have a CEL and still pass as long as it passes the sniff test and a routine safety check. Give a few calls to places that do inspections and see if the CEL will cause you a problem. If so you can reset your ECU and hope the CEL doesn't come on while the inspection takes place.

How do you reset the ECU?

Pull the battery terminals, hit the brakes

a bunch of times and leave it off for 45

minutes for safe measure. Then put it

back on and it should be reset.

i had that code 35 when i bought mine.. i replaced mine with a purge solenoid from a late 90's geo tracker.. same plug as our car and same resistance reading... its been doing great for about 10K miles so far.

heres a super close up of the tracker valve installed in my subie

http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/3386/img0012qmf.th.jpg

That may be an idea. The theory being it may have less miles then most 1st Gen in the junkyards around me....

XD

I'm pretty sure it would being a Geo

relocate the purge valve to the top of the intake manifold for easier access next time.

 

http://i1199.photobucket.com/albums/aa474/sqc151/2%20-%2093%20SS/photobucket-4772-1323135265301.jpg

Thank you!

I was able to relocate it at least out from under the manifold, but haven't put longer hoses on yet. I also got the bolt out without tape or a magnet thingy. WINNING!! How would I go about the attempt of cleaning it? I am also unsure exactly where/how to unplug the blue clip thing. I just can't get it.

stock hoses work just fine. i used the same ones and you can see how i routed them.

Looks like you swapped the hoses...

My stock hoses were so brittle that they snapped as soon as I touched them. I just bought some cheap vacuum line hose from the auto parts store for a few bucks. I doubt cleaning it will fix anything, but I haven't tried so idk. You can buy electronic parts cleaner in a spray can and try that. And the clip is hard undo. Mine was stuck fast and the plastic broke a little bit when I replaced mine. I had to pry it apart with a tiny flat screwdriver. It still clips fine though.

I need to replace this. Only code i have on the 93 SS.

 

SCQ I am not able to see your pics. Any chance you can re-upload?

Baddog, you can see the new placement in this photo I took when I was doing a boost leak test. Thanks sqc151 for the idea!

Awesome thanks Monkey.

 

Did you have to remove the turbo for sure? Or by chance could you loosen the Intake Mani and lift up on it enough to get under it.

 

And how long did it take to change out ?

It took me about four hours but I was also replacing the neutral inhibitor switch which requires the downpipe to be removed.

 

I had to remove the turbo, but I was talking to trevorno on here recently and he was able to loosen the intake mani and lift it up enough to get at it. He did have to remove the turbo inlet elbow.

 

I was wondering if you could just leave the old one where it is. Maybe you could cut the harness plug wires that connect to the solenoid and pull the harness up with some long pliers. Might not be enough room to do so though.

Just replaced my pcs last month after throwing code 35 for years. Partsgeek 82$ plus free shipping. Yahoo no more cel on! If you try a junk yard test resistance. Must be around 35ohms + or wont clear code. Tried 2 from junk yard 12ohms and 16ohms neither good. Best to just buy new.

Baddog, I was able to loosen up the intake manifold and get at it. Pain in the butt, but probably less than removing the turbo. If I had it to do over, I'd just do what it took to remove the clip & hoses. I'd leave the old one attached and do the re-route suggested here. I ended up bolting the new one to the side of the intake manifold. No more code!