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Donald
Dodge Dakota
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9/17/2001
20:06:30

Subject: Smog Canister or Pump?
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A local mechanic told me my Smog Canister was bad on my old dakota. It is a black box about 8 inches wide, 6 from top to bottom, 1 and 1/2 inches thick and it is attached to the inside of the passenger side fender. I thought i was the MAP Sensor, but he said it wasn't. It has two connectors connected to it and two hoses, one small and one about 1 inch in diameter which comes off of the main air intake. My dakota is ANCIENT so don't think i've lost my mind if you all don't have one :)

Have any of you replaced one? How much does it cost?

Thanks Donald



Bruce P
Dodge Dakota


9/17/2001
21:36:03

RE: Smog Canister or Pump?
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If this is your charcoal canistor... all it does is collect fumes from the gas tank while parked and then feed these fumes into the engine intake while running.

When you say it has "connectors" are you saying ELECTRICAL connectors?... if so then this is NOT the charcoal canistor. How may wires are in these "connectors"?


You did not mention WHY he wanted to replace this unit. Are you having problems?

BTW... I have NEVER seen a charcoal canistor go "bad" since around 1973 when charcoal canistors started to be used. To proove his theory, the proper hose (one into intake manifold) could pulled and plugged to eliminate the charcoal canistor from the equasion. Ill bet you will not notice ANY difference if you bypass it in this way.



Donald
Dodge Dakota
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9/17/2001
22:10:10

RE: Smog Canister or Pump?
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It's no where near the gas tank. Its inside the passenger side fender and it is connected to the air intake. It has two connectors... one with about 8 wires one with 12 to 16 wires.

If i unplug one connector, the engine does run better. So the part must be bad. If i unplug the other one, the engine dies.

Donald



Bruce P
Dodge Dakota


9/18/2001
19:20:06

RE: Smog Canister or Pump?
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WIth this many wires, it sounds as if this is your engine computer. I WOULD NOT be "pulling the connectors" with the engine running... unless you have won the lottery receintly and can afford another computer.

There are many sensors, relays and servos connected to the engine computer. It controls fuel, spark, idle and all kinds of other stuff.
Lets hope that it is NOT your computer that is bad. Even a used one is expensive and there is NO WAY to test one except install another one.

Instead... look for one of the sensors, relays or servos to be bad. Perhaps you oxygen sensor has gone bad?

BTW... the charcoal canistor is often mounted under the hood or inside one of the front fenders.
(but never has electic wires)



Donald
Dodge Dakota
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9/18/2001
20:16:01

RE: Smog Canister or Pump?
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Well, Bruce, you are well informed. It was the main engine computer... go figure. I took my aging dak to the dodge dealership In Virgina and someone was finally able to tell me what it was.

Yeah it wasn't cheap.. but it wasn't as expensive as i thought it would be. It is a special order so it takes time to get here.

I've changed the Oxygen sensor and it still does the exact same thing it did before. Unpluging one side of the "computer" totally 100% fixed my problems. So they all agreed it was bad.. it works, just not very well.

My model (the 87) is different from all other dakota models according to the dealer. It doesn't have a MAP sensor, or most of the other sensors that other daks have. In other words, if the new computer doesn't fix my problem, then it is basically unfixable. 5 mechanics including 2 dealerships are totally stumped about my dak.

What a depressing day...

Donald



yoshi
Dodge Dakota
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11/22/2002
01:56:40

RE: Smog Canister or Pump?
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Does anybody out there know what a smop pump does for a 1987 dodge ram B250. I just bought this van for weekend job and I took it to a mechanic shop for a check up and they told me the smog pump is bad, they said I don't have to replace it, I could just take out the belt. Is it true that smog pump does not do much, what does it do if any body know what it does. Should I change it or leave it alone, I am in a budget so could anybody give me advice. Thanks for any advice
Yoshi




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