i went to the dealer to check a SES light that has been on and they found that there is a very small leak coming from vent control valve and evap canister. they recommended replacing..it isnt covered by my extended warantee..can anyone tell me where this is on my 02 max...they wanted 485$ to do the job w/parts..im thinkin i can get these parts used and do it myself...can anyone point this out for me..thanks

are you talking about the air conditioner evaporator?

i had this pop up on me. first time, dealer covered it. 2nd time i reset it and it never returned. it's directly linked to your gas tank, so reading that error could be a bad evap control valve sensor OR simply.......your gas cap.

in my case, it was the control vavle. the 2nd time, i'm going to guess it was my gas cap. i tightened it, reset the CEL, and went on with my life.

can you live with this problem? yes you can. why? simply because government laws force all car manufactures to attach sensors to EVERYTHING. i am not 100% sure how the valve works, but it monitors pressure levels in your tank. it does nothing more and nothing less and shouldn't affect any performance or mechanical levels of the car.

now, if you wanna fix it, i know someone posted that they did it themselves. the evap sensor is actually quite expensive, ~$100.

http://www.digitalpolo.com/2002Maxim...ngineBay01.JPG

looking at that picture, i believe (not 100% sure) that it's the sensor at the top right, slightly above the engine cover. it's got the green cap on top of it.

let us know if any of this helps.

ok i see what your saying...well the dealer must have reset the light cuz the light is off right now..well it diagnostic letter didnt say anything about a sensor...it said there was a small leak coming from vent control valve and evap canister and they wanted to replace those parts

wait and see if it comes back on again, if it does than you might want to look into replacing them

knowledge is power. take a quick trip to autozone, get the codes pulled, post up the codes, and i'll pull the info off my FSM. to be honest, if you don't care that the light pops up again, then i would just ignore it. i do care about seeing a stupid CEL light, but i got lucky that it disappeared and never came back when i reset it.

i forgot what the codes were, otherwise i'd help you. i'm guessing P0145, but i'd rather you tell me.

I just had to do this a couple of months ago. My SES light came on a month before my inspection month. I took it to be inspected and it failed emissions because of the leak. The evap canister is located on the left rear side of the car. The main problem with the control valve is the fact that when you go to take out the filter to replace the valve, the screws break off into the canister forcing you to replace the entire canister assembley. This is what happened with mine. To me, it was worth the $427 dollars to get it fixed. I got about 122,000 miles out of the first canister so I can't complain.

I just had the same thing happen last week, 90K, and it was covered under the extended warranty.
The service manager had to go check again to make sure.

the evap canister is in the back of the car...under the fuel filler hole. get under the car and you will see it behind the rear quarter panel

ok here is what the diagnostic letter said..

"customer states check engine light is on.
Checked and confirmed the check engine light is on. Ran self diagnostic test using consult. code P0456; Evap very small leak registered. Pressure tested system. found leak to be coming from vent control valve and evap canister. Recommend replacing. the parts are not covered by the preowned warantee. Cost to replace the evap canister and vent control valve is 484.26 plus tax."

are you sure that is exactly what you had go wrong?

the code is P0456 thanks

I am not sure about the code but that was definitely the work done. My dealer is a rip, the quote was for a lot more than 484. They replaced the canister and valve. My warranty is original owner extended warranty and that may be the difference.
Good luck.

I think that the emmisions systems are covered (under federal law) for 100k miles. Look in your owner's manual.


Regardless, try buying just the valve first and replacing it. I STRONGLY recommend soaking the two bolts that hold it in place with WD-40 first or they might snap. Replacing the valve is pretty easy and should cost aroun $80 or so. Get behind the driver's side rear wheel and you'll see a black box under the car. There's three or four bolts holding it in place. Remove those. Then unplug the hoses and wires going to it. Next, pull it forward to get past the pin holding it in place. The whole canister should then come right out. Once you have it off, the valve is on the front and attached with (2) 10 mm bolts. Like I said above, soak those things for a while in WD-40 then remove. The valve pulls out, but you may have to work at it (mine was stuck pretty bad). Slip the new one in, re-install and you're set. Just be sure to put the hoses all back and the electrical plug in the right way. At that point, reset your ECU, take it for a spin, shut it off, restart and see if the light comes back.

I had a "major evap air leak" and believe me, it killed my power!