what is this?

[87tpita]

Im going to remove the condenser and this is sitting on the firewall,,, the previous owner just plugged the vacuum line that comes off of it so its not doing anything at this point. Im in the process of cleaning up the engine bay and wanted some info on this part before I decide to remove it. thanks

 

[Last5.0]

It is the cannister purge solenoid. Basically one end of the vac line is connected to the charcoal canister and the other to the intake and during cruise conditions it opens and lets fuel fumes from the cannister into the intake

 

[Chythar]

LAst5.0 has it exactly right. It's part of the emissions system. Basically, liquid gas doesn't burn - but the vapors do. Older cars just vented the vapors to open air, but our Stangs have a system to reclaim and burn them. The vapors are collected in a charcoal canister in the passenger fender, and at partial throttle (I believe) the canister purge solenoid (CANP) opens up. Engine vacuum draws the vapors from the charcoal canister into the intake to burn them. If either of the hoses from the intake to the CANP or from the CANP to the charcoal canister are cracked, you can get a gasoline smell seep through the vents and into the passenger compartment.

TL;DR - the CANP doesn't affect power in any way, and it doesn't weigh much. I personally would replace the hoses, hook it all back up and let it do its job. Up to you.

 

[jaketuff]

They claim this thing assists in MPG... As the vapors are sent back to the combustion process... But correct me if I am wrong the PCM has no way of metering this flow (albeit tiny amount) of more fuel. So it is mostly useless for MPG.

But, it seems this can help to squash the good ol 'she smells like she gunna explode Zeke!' Feeling on older Mustangs.

OUT

 

[toyman]

They claim this thing assists in MPG... As the vapors are sent back to the combustion process... But correct me if I am wrong the PCM has no way of metering this flow (albeit tiny amount) of more fuel. So it is mostly useless for MPG.

But, it seems this can help to squash the good ol 'she smells like she gunna explode Zeke!' Feeling on older Mustangs.

OUT

You're partly correct. While there is no direct metering of this flow, in closed loop, the fuel delivery will be managed based on the O2 signals back to the PCM. I'm certain that the mpg amounts are miniscule but the environmental impact is probably worth considering.