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Missing Charcoal canister 97 LGT


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I have had a P0441 evap system code that was on when I bought my car, and have been diagnosing it slowly over the course of a year, when I noticed the other day that my car does not have a charcoal canister, or I simply can't find it because it is in a strange location. I have a 97 Legacy GT, with a 98 2.5GT motor. I do not have a charcoal canister in my engine bay, or under the rear of the car. I have only seen the canister located in these two locations on 2nd gen legacies, and my car has neither. Does anybody know of an alternate location, or is my car just simply missing a charcoal canister. Perhaps the old motor had one located in the engine bay, but the new motor was from a car with it in the rear and the previous owner forgot to hook one up. Can anybody help me out? I have a friend that has a canister from an 04 impreza that he said he'll give to me for free if it is compatible with my car. Should I try and rig that up or get one from another 2nd gen legacy?
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97 had the canister up front,

98 had them in the rear.

 

as you mentioned, the replacement engine is probably from a 98 car.

is it a DOHC ej25?

it could be an ej22 .

 

the easiest solution is to swap in a 97 intake manifold,

AND a 97 charcoal canister under the hood.

 

the difference between the 97 and 98 manifolds is the metal lines for the canister up front near the top rad hose.(as metioned)

 

doing the swap up front is going to be much easier than in the rear.

the 97 canister is surprisingly simple.

one hoes in , one hose out, and a drain of some kind.

 

the other thing to check are hte small vac hoses that run to the passenger strut tower.

there is a small filter in one of the lines that will throw a code.

 

how does the car run?

good idle, accelerates well, no stumbling?

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both motors are ej25. i changed the filter going to the rear strut tower and that didnt help. code came back 15 miles after clearing it. The car runs good and idles fine, just has the CEL and code for evap system incorrect purge flow. The original motor was a 97 ej25 with the canister in the front, then the previous owner swapped a 98 ej25 that was from a car with a rear canister and as a result no canister was ever installed. Thats probably the issue.
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just has the CEL and code for evap system incorrect purge flow.
ok, this is all together different, maybe.

 

if they swapped the 97 ECU into the car when they swapped tyhe engine, that could cause a ''incorrect purge flow'' code.

i have done the exact same thing.

there were a few changes with the 98 MY ECU.

 

i bought a 98 OBW for cheap with a busted timing belt.

after i swapped the engine it would not start.

i finally narrowed it down to the ecu.

it was caked with corrosion due to water damage.

i swapped in the ECU fom my 97 GT and the engine fire right up.

 

but i had 2 codes.

one for incorrect purge flow, and

one for some sort of traction control issue.

after messing with both codes for a couple of weeks,

i bought a 98 ECU and all is well.

 

pull back the carpet on the passenger side fire wall,

remove the cover, and read the part number on the ECU.

 

ECU part numbers for outbacks.

according to www.car-part.com

 

97 = 22611AD000 and 22611AD001

98 = 22611AD60A and 22611AD62A

 

there may be others, but these are the first ones i came across for each year.

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I will cheack the ecu. Gret timing though cause i currently slready have the carpet out due to a leak im in the precess of fixing. I also have a spare ecu lying around from a 1998 legacy GT automatic. Will this work? My car is a 1997 legacy GT manual, with a 98 GT motor?
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the car will run fine.

but i don't know if it is the same as the outback.

 

the 98 GT ECU has a different part number.

but that may be due to programming .

but it does not take much to try it.

and if it get rid of the code then you know it is a phantom code.

the reason the 97 throws a code in the 98, is that they move a pin on the ECU and the changed the wiring harness to match.

(probably because they moved the canister to the rear.)

so if the harness does not match the ECU, there is no way the data from the sensors is getting to the right place in the ECU.

 

i'm driving my 97 GT with a 96 lego ECU, right now.

when i borrowed the gt unit for the 98 obw, i needed one for the GT so i tried the 96 and it works fine.

i never bothered to swap it back.

no phantom codes.

 

my MPG is a little off but i don't know for sure it is the ECU.

it could just need a tune up.

 

you could still be missing the canister and that is what is causing the problem.

but with the carpet out, it is only 3 ? bolts to uncover the ECU and check the number.

if the number is a match for a 98 obw, i would not bother trying the 98 gt ECU.

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I wouldn't say 97s don't have the canister in the rear, my wagon does and spitting charcoal pellets into my purge sensor on my intake manifold giving me a P0440, pulled the hoses to find the sensor packed full of pellets. The canister is crunchy and something loose inside rattling around, canister is trash. I haven't found any replacement one yet cause 98+ is different outlet sizes.
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