Thanks for sharing. If I run into this, I will be the one fixing it myself, so good to have this info

 

Still waiting for this "how to."

 

I was there, but I hadn't told him about the problem beforehand and he did not have his 'smoker' handy. As it turned out, smoking the system did not reveal the location of the problem.... it was only when the tech took everything apart that the o-ring was discovered.

 

Emil, just under $1,700US. Like I've always been told, education ain't cheap.

 

Because I didn't get to sit and watch, I have no way of knowing which o-ring it was, although I was led to believe it was in front of either the 1st solenoid or the charcoal canister (which, by the way, was replaced twice as the first one would not hold vacuum). They gave me the 'bad' o-ring.... the inside diameter is about 3/4".... but there is no referenced part number on the repair order.

 

Jim, the solenoids are what Honda's Service Bulletin direct the mechanics to go after, and apparently they are usually the culprit. In this case, that Service Bulletin prevented the tech from even looking at anything else in the process. Smoking the system evidently did not identify the point of the problem, and with the addition of the initial defective charcoal canister, the issue just compounded itself.

I can also verify that Billman was able to 'scope the solenoid/valves when he was working on the car, and that all of the solenoids were working as they should be. I doubt that the Honda dealer's tech ever tried to listen to those valves.

 

Space Shuttle Challenger.

 

Expensive O-ring.

 

Glad to hear it was fixed and that the dealer actually worked with you on the repair and cost, a lot of dealers would of been it’s your cost.


never noticed before, I like you picture under your screen name

 

Thanks for sharing this tip, Roy. Have not had any of the CEL problems thus far, but am now informed My '03 is approaching 100k miles.