EVAP "Separator" rusted: bypass or replace????

[Ihatedomestic]

The crappy little evaporative emissions "separator" in the left rear wheel well (next to the filler neck) has rusted through and now consistantly leaks fuel and fumes.

I figures my options are:
a.) replace it. The problem is, I spent about 30 minutes at the dealership today while the dude behind the counter tried to find it on his parts look-up. Although I my car it is a separate piece from the filler neck, the computer picture almost shows it as being included with the filler neck. Anybody have any help here?

b.) I was also thinking of removing all together (and save a little weight and money), but I'd likely end up with raw fuel going into my charcoal canister. That's bad. Any suggestions here? Has anybody done this successfully before?

I would start experimenting with this myself, but I can't stand working with or around fuel, so any help in advance would be great before I dive into this some more.

[Ihatedomestic]

Oh, here are a couple of links to what the thing is:

http://www.mx-3.com/manuals/showimg.php ... F2-127.gif" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.mx-3.com/manuals/showimg.php ... F2-129.gif" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Daninski]

Good links. When in doubt check the manual. This dosen't of course answer his question but its a very good start.

[drdreadz]

I've got the same problem. Anyone else have this? No one has posted in a while so. If i figure something out... I'll still post here.

Chris

[projectzemx3]

with some cars if there is an evap leak the cel comes on. is your cel on? i dont even know if mx3's have a cel for evap.

[drdreadz]

http://www.mx-3.com/manuals/showimg.php ... F2-129.gif" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The link above show's the separator. This is attached to the filler neck behind the splash shield. After removing my shield, i noticed that the separator has completly rotted. There are 3 lines that go to this. Two come and go from the tank. The 3rd goes to the cut-and-check valve. This then goes, i think, to the canister. With the separator being rotted, it's just wasting gas by the fumes evaporating into the outside air. So, the problem is trying not to replace this becasue the filler neck is in A1 condition. I'm going try and make some kind of canister that will do the same thing. The separator IS AN ENCLOSED UNIT.

Here is a little pic i made.



From the picture, i believe number 1 and 3 give and take fumes to maintain tank pressure. Number 2 will use vapour and send to canister to cycle thru the system. Any other pointers wold be great!

Thanks,

Chris

[400bird]

Well, I don't really know how much room you have to work with, but this is my idea.

I would get a pvc pipe and thread holes in the side at different lights to attach the lines you have.
Cap both ends, put the tank port at the bottom and the other two near the top.

Well, that is assuming pvc can stand up to gas, and I think it does...

[Ihatedomestic]

I got pissed off at the thing and just cut it out.
The main body of it was paper thin and the lines going to/from it were the same way. Out it came. So did the silly 2 way shuttle valve.

I T'd together the 2 lines from the tank to the engine...so that the engine would still suck fumes from the tank when the EVAP solenoid opened.
Since the engine was drawing from the tank, it would build up a bit of vaccum in the tank, so I drilled a 3/32" hole in the gas cap. Smells like fuel after a long drive, but goes away quickly.

Now if I could just solve my coil issues....