Bryan Savage
Viper Owner
Wouldn't you know it, my Malfunction Indicator Lamp (MIL) turned itself on while I was at Watkins Glen last weekend. Awesomely, the Gen V cars will tell you their own codes, thusly:
Back from my mechanic days at the Chrysler/Jeep dealership, this Diagnostic Trouble Code (DTC) was one of the most annoying. The likeliest culprit (read, the easiest possible repair) was the ol' gas cap leak. Well, with most new vehicles these days, and the Gen V Viper included, there ain't no gas cap.
As I'm sure you all know, part of the federal emissions requirements in all new vehicles is the closed fuel system. Evaporating fuel vapours are bad for the environment and can also create nice explosive atmospheres if all the conditions are met.
Gasoline is very volatile, meaning under atmospheric pressure, it will vaporise fairly quickly. All the empty space in your fuel tank is going to fill with fuel vapours, and those vapours are not allowed to escape to the outside atmosphere. So the Evaporative Emissions System (EVAP) exists on your vehicles to keep all those vapours in check. There's a seal around the fuel filler to hold the pressure in, there are vent lines to and from the fuel tank to allow for the expansion and contraction of the fuel as temperature fluctuates, and there's a charcoal canister and a pump or two to force stray vapours into the engine intake for combustion, or to capture them in said charcoal canister if conditions are not right for combustion.
The system monitors the pressures, and if they are too low, you must have a leak. The MIL exists only for emissions reasons, and none of them are fatal to your engine, so the light is always orange. If you have any lights that are red, that is bad, and you should probably not be driving.
Most DTCs record the sensor readings in a shapshot of when the code was set, which sometimes helps you figure out their cause. The car monitors what's going on at all times, and if the conditions for tripping the code are not met, usually three "Global Good Trips", the MIL will turn off and not bother you anymore, even though the code will stay in the memory as a "non-active" malfunction.
I've seen loose gas caps, cracked seals on gas caps, spilt vacuum lines, relocated hoseclamps, bad pumps, and clogged canisters cause EVAP leaks, but read any story about this DTC and most of the time, the dealership will come back with "could not duplicate" or they will replace the easiest-to-replace part (since warranty work doesn't pay well for diagnosis) and send the customer on their way.
The closest SRT High Performance dealer to me is 79 miles away, and I'll be buggered if I'm going to drive all that way for a "we couldn't find anything so we cleared the code and see you later".
So I figured I'd run it by here. Has anyone else in a Gen V tripped this code? If you fixed it, what was the solution? I have done zilch as far as a visual inspection for anything. Sitting on my couch and asking the internet is easier than moving.
Two possible causes I've come up with, besides component failure:
1) When fuelling up the car, I put the nozzle into the filler and let it hang there on it's own, so I can pick my nose or Tweet things while I wait. Perhaps the weight of the filler nozzle has bent part of the car's filler sealing mechanism, not allowing it to self seal any longer.
2) The code tripped after the car sat in the hot sun all day long at Watkins Glen. Perhaps the elevated temperatures cause high vapour pressure in the system, and it found a way to sneak past a weak hose clamp and hose barb somewhere in the system, and now cooler temperatures aren't contracting the hose enough to seal the leak again.
Thoughts, anyone?
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Back from my mechanic days at the Chrysler/Jeep dealership, this Diagnostic Trouble Code (DTC) was one of the most annoying. The likeliest culprit (read, the easiest possible repair) was the ol' gas cap leak. Well, with most new vehicles these days, and the Gen V Viper included, there ain't no gas cap.
You must be registered for see images attach
As I'm sure you all know, part of the federal emissions requirements in all new vehicles is the closed fuel system. Evaporating fuel vapours are bad for the environment and can also create nice explosive atmospheres if all the conditions are met.
Gasoline is very volatile, meaning under atmospheric pressure, it will vaporise fairly quickly. All the empty space in your fuel tank is going to fill with fuel vapours, and those vapours are not allowed to escape to the outside atmosphere. So the Evaporative Emissions System (EVAP) exists on your vehicles to keep all those vapours in check. There's a seal around the fuel filler to hold the pressure in, there are vent lines to and from the fuel tank to allow for the expansion and contraction of the fuel as temperature fluctuates, and there's a charcoal canister and a pump or two to force stray vapours into the engine intake for combustion, or to capture them in said charcoal canister if conditions are not right for combustion.
The system monitors the pressures, and if they are too low, you must have a leak. The MIL exists only for emissions reasons, and none of them are fatal to your engine, so the light is always orange. If you have any lights that are red, that is bad, and you should probably not be driving.
Most DTCs record the sensor readings in a shapshot of when the code was set, which sometimes helps you figure out their cause. The car monitors what's going on at all times, and if the conditions for tripping the code are not met, usually three "Global Good Trips", the MIL will turn off and not bother you anymore, even though the code will stay in the memory as a "non-active" malfunction.
I've seen loose gas caps, cracked seals on gas caps, spilt vacuum lines, relocated hoseclamps, bad pumps, and clogged canisters cause EVAP leaks, but read any story about this DTC and most of the time, the dealership will come back with "could not duplicate" or they will replace the easiest-to-replace part (since warranty work doesn't pay well for diagnosis) and send the customer on their way.
The closest SRT High Performance dealer to me is 79 miles away, and I'll be buggered if I'm going to drive all that way for a "we couldn't find anything so we cleared the code and see you later".
So I figured I'd run it by here. Has anyone else in a Gen V tripped this code? If you fixed it, what was the solution? I have done zilch as far as a visual inspection for anything. Sitting on my couch and asking the internet is easier than moving.
Two possible causes I've come up with, besides component failure:
1) When fuelling up the car, I put the nozzle into the filler and let it hang there on it's own, so I can pick my nose or Tweet things while I wait. Perhaps the weight of the filler nozzle has bent part of the car's filler sealing mechanism, not allowing it to self seal any longer.
2) The code tripped after the car sat in the hot sun all day long at Watkins Glen. Perhaps the elevated temperatures cause high vapour pressure in the system, and it found a way to sneak past a weak hose clamp and hose barb somewhere in the system, and now cooler temperatures aren't contracting the hose enough to seal the leak again.
Thoughts, anyone?
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