Carbon Canister

[nerdofreak]

I own a 1981 280ZX, Fuel Injected, Datsun. I was cleaning out the engine compartment and checking connections, when I found a about 6 to 7 inch diameter canister directly behind the passenger side headlight with several rubber hoses attached to it. Looking inside my mechanic's manual I discovered that it is a carbon filter, that is supposed to prevent vapor lock by trapping hydrocarbons in it. I have never seen a filter or canister like this on any other vehicle. Does anyone know if I can remove it and will it affect engine performance or relability? It also has yellow filter at the bottom of the canister. Being 20 years old the yellow filter is disinagrating. Can I buy a new filter? Victoria British doesn't sell them and I haven't recieved my MotorSport catalog yet.

Thanks for your time and comments.

Ryan

[Mike]

Originally posted by nerdofreak

I have never seen a filter or canister like this on any other vehicle. Does anyone know if I can remove it and will it affect engine performance or relability?Ryan

Hi Ryan,

I don't know if you can remove it or not. But, I've seen EFI engines at the Motorsport show that have removed this canister.

I have the same question... if you do remove it, where do you put the hoses?

[WishN4DaZ]

What the canister is for is to recirculate the gas fumes as they evaporate...

It hold them in the canister until such a time as they can be burnt with the rest of the gasoline.

If you remove the canister you will notice 2 things..

1. It'll always smell like gas =)

2. Your gas mileage will drop to about ohhhh 10 mpg

They have carbon canisters on nearly every car, but they are called Charcoal canisters on the 300zx ( Z31 ) and not sure on newer cars.

In otherwords, dont bother removing it, its serving a purpose and taking it out, well...woudln't

Matt

[Mike]

Okay, so that now leads us down a different path. Thanks for the info.

The different path is:

Is the canister good for the life of the car? Or, can we replace parts of the canister or the charcoal inside?

I haven't touched mine, but, I would be interested to know if this needs to be fixed up after the car has been sitting for 15 years.

[WishN4DaZ]

The inside is basically the inside, not really sure,

however there is an air filter on the bottom side of it, reach around and you can feel it. Sometimes those get nasty and old and need replaced, pretty sure you can pick one up at an auto parts store, not sure tho

Matt:)

[TomoHawk]

How big are tyhe charcoal cans on the newer cars? If they're smaller, then you might get that big sucker out of your Z and use the space for something else.

Can you mention a newer car that you KNOW has a charcoal cannister so I can see for myself?

Thx.

[mwz]

Tomohawk - I can't speak about other makes, but newer (95 or so up to present) Nissans have a rectangular charcoal canister. It's about 11"x8"x3" and it's mounted near the gas tank in the rear. It's a much different set up though, with valves and solenoids to control the system. The other ones up to that point have the same old canister that our Z's have.

Mike - WishN is right about the filter. I've never really heard of doing much else to one of those. The ones on newer cars are plagued with all sorts of issues that cause those annoying "check engine" lights but I've never encountered a problem on an older Z. Basically, if and when it's "bad", it goes in the trash.

[Tourniqet]

I am not an expert on them, but I did notice them flipping through the pages of my haynes manual. It did have a little tutorial about replacing some filter on it. I can not remember how often or if it was the air filter on the bottom that one of you guys was talking about. It is in the book though...

[Tiburon]

Also known as a "Evaporative Emissions Control" component, the carbon canister gets the HC vapors and recycles them into the engine, instead of releasing them into the atmosphere...

The filter at the bottom has been discontinued by Nissan but can still be bought by Datsun parts vendors....

if you are at the wrecking yards and find a filter in good condition, use it.

[TomoHawk]

I looked at the hoses and where they go, and it looks like they all go the intake (i.e. vacuum). One goes to the dizzy for vacuum advance. Don't disconnect the vacuum line from the cannister without plugging it, or the engine will stall.

I think you could just replace it with a smaller can to do the same job. I'd put that can where the vacuum bottle was.

[TomoHawk]

If you totally removed the cannister and plugged all the hoses, you would either have to vent the fuel tank (unscrew the cap) before getting in the car or add a solenoid valve (or a check valve?) to let the pressure out when the fuel pump is running.

there HAS to be a better way than what it had.