RDU area shop recommendations for fuel system evap leak?

Keith Quistorff · **Posted:** Wed May 08, 2013 9:01 am

My gf's daughter has an 02 Ford Focus with consistent check engine light for evaporator system small leak, and the car is due for NC inspection. We replaced the fuel cap with no luck. I understand the next step is to have the fuel tank smoke tested. Anyone know of a local (Cary/RDU area) shop that would do this analysis for a reasonable price? (The girl is a poor college student, cost is a major issue.)

Thanks!

MikeWhitney · **Joined:** Wed Aug 20, 2003 9:15 pm **Posts:** 4724

Hey Keith, if you decide to keep trying this yourself, here's what I did. Stuffed my air compressor nozzle into a rubber stopper with a hole in it into the filler neck, then jammed an old bike inner tube around it. Used a pressure regulator to feed in 10psi. Went around the car listening for the leak. In my case it was a bad sealing ring around the fuel pump on top of the tank.

Keith Quistorff · **Posted:** Wed May 08, 2013 10:54 am

Thanks, Mike - that's an interesting idea.

BretLuter · **Posted:** Wed May 08, 2013 6:47 pm

you might try (or suggest she try) having the codes cleared and CEL reset, then drive it for a while to get the sensors "ready", and get it inspected before the CEL comes back on. Doesn't work all the time, but with a small evap leak it should work.

Keith Quistorff · **Posted:** Thu May 09, 2013 10:03 am

BretLuter wrote:

you might try (or suggest she try) having the codes cleared and CEL reset, then drive it for a while to get the sensors "ready", and get it inspected before the CEL comes back on. Doesn't work all the time, but with a small evap leak it should work.

Thanks for the suggestion, Bret. We have tried that several times (I have an OBD2 scanner), and the same code consistently lights up within the first few starts, before the ECU is "ready" for inspection.

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RDU area shop recommendations for fuel system evap leak?

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