Herbert46

Hi I have a 1993 F150 5.0 5spd and it is giving me the code for the canister purge solenoid and I was wondering what this means and where it is located.

CamD61

It is an emissions part, that works with the charcoal canister. From my experience, it is usually located on the front fender above the wheel (under the hood)...maybe under your air filter box. They could also be under the truck, some are located near the charcoal canister. You can look up then solenoid on one of the auto parts store's website to see what you are looking for.....that seems to be easier than someone saying its that hinge with hoses attached to it by the filter housing. Hope this helps.

imp

Find the canister, about size of a large coffee can, may be under the hood, tucked over on a fender apron, it's usually pretty seeable. Once found, you will see it has several tubes/hoses entering into it. One, in '93, would be a tube line back to the fuel tank. Gasoline vapor from the tank is allowed to flow to the canister, instead of out into the air like before EPA.

Another tube from the canister will go to the canister solenoid, your lurking culprit. It may be mounted alone, or along with one or two other solenoids together. Once you trace that tube from the can to the correct solenoid, you will see that the solenoid has another tube going from it to the intake manifold somewhere, where there is engine vacuum. When the engine is running, the computer electrically turns the can solenoid "ON", allowing vapors stored in the can to be burned in the engine. When eng. is "OFF", solenoid is closed, to trap the vapors contained in it, the vapor line from the fuel tank, and the empty space above the fuel in the tank.

The trouble code is telling you the computer believes the can solenoid is not operating properly. It does not know if the solenoid is STUCK, burned out, or what. In comparison to other computer controlled devices, like the EGR valve, can sol. is considered less important, emissions-wise. EGR valve has a position sensor attached to it, which tells computer IF it's moving at all, and IF it's moving appropriately. Can sol. lacks that. Auto parts stores likely sell the can sol. for a couple bucks. Replace it, if trouble code persists, you may need to disconnect the battery ground cable for a minute or two, to reset or get rid of the code. If you have a code reader, it likely is capable of deleting the code at any time; however, if the can sol. problem persists, the computer will "throw" it again.

Let us know how you make out! imp