I respectfully disagree. Some people may not have the money to go running to the dealer every time something goes wrong with their car or they like working on their cars themselves. That would be why we have automobile forums otherwise we wouldn't need forums if we just answered everybody's question with "go to your dealer".

 

many things are well past the average "do it yourselfers" ability.
Many things require thousands of dollars worth of tools to repair.

I appreciate wanting to fix it yourself, but thats just not very realistic with the technology in todays cars.

and, if someone cannot afford to fix a car, they probably shouldnt be owning a car in the first place. repairs and maintenance ARE part of car ownership, and if that is not being taken into consideration when purchasing, the person buying the car is being naive.

 

My galant had the same issue. Behind the passenger rear tire I had a vent cannister completely eaten away by rust. I pulled one from the junkyard $5 and i'm gonna try and put that in.

 

How cool is this! The thread is still going and I STILL have the problem on my Galant. Thought I'd bring it up to date. Was told that the condition was not a big deal and might reduce gas mileage some so I have just been putting up with the trouble light. The engine runs a little rough but not bad at all.

I have looked this up on an auto repair program a mechanic friend has and it seems that it can be 1. a solenoid valve on the engine or 2. one near the fuel tank. (I may not have called the valves the right thing because I don't have info here in front of me) or 3. The hoses off the valve in the engine area or 4. holes in the fuel lines

I have been going crazy trying to find what the actual part LOOKS like and WHERE it is on the engine so I can at least try and replace the rubber hoses just in case it is that simple. My mechanic friend tells me that otherwise you cannot determine which of these valves it is without running the system through some kind of smoke machine ( I don't know if the machine also has mirrors too...sorry that was a joke) and that he does not have one and I would need to take it in to a shop to have it done.

Yes, I DO have a need to avoid high repair costs and that is why I am trying to solve this the best way I can on this forum. I am retired and disabled and need to watch my money closely. I have had my 2002 Galant since new and have put a lot of money in it for repairs that had to go to a shop. I am currently having to replace the rear struts which take priority.

More than anything, I'd like to see a picture of these actual parts on my car so I can examine their condition at least by eyesight and replace any hoses first to see if that might help before I bite the bullet and sink more $$ into the car. I'd hate to find out that all it needed was a simple hose replacement! It sounds like cjmollo was able to SEE his problem easily and I hope this works for him. Thanks for the post and let us know how you come out. Not sure where this is on my car either. Can anyone help with actual pics of what and where these soleoids valves , purge valves and cannisters are?

Thank you all for you posts by the way!

 

Some shops have the smoke machine which should be very effective and finding all the leaks you have. I went to have it done and i'm pretty sure they didn't even do it and just showed me the Gross leaks I had on the vent cannister.
I went to the junkyard and pulled a vent cannister 'not the easiest without metal cutter' but I got it. I'll just try and clean cut where i broke it off and use tubing to connect it.
The vent cannister is right next to the gas fill behind the passenger side rear tire behind a plastic shield. I'm sure it's welded right to a bracket holding that right to the gas fill. We'll see how it goes.
I'd def recommend smoke machine at this point if you're still having trouble. Unfortunately with todays technology sensors don't do crap but go bad and cost money to replace. You'll have to go through same diagnostics regardless it's stupid. Oh well, the man has screwed us again.