Charcoal Canister Purge Valve for FI Bus - Where to find?

[69BahamaYellow]

Anybody know where I can find a working purge valve? It's the valve that's circled in this picture and attaches to air cleaner. The large hose on top of it goes to the charcoal canister, and the small hose on the left goes to a tee in the distributor advance vacuum can.

[airschooled]

http://www.itinerant-air-cooled.com/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=9952
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[SGKent]

there are a couple different styles. There was a fellow on e-bay selling them a few years back. 914 rubber or something like that.
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[airschooled]

[69BahamaYellow]

Thanks for sharing that fix, asiab3. the rubber diaphragm in mine was cracked just like your example, and I fixed mine the same way about 3 years ago. It has been working great until about a month ago, but now it's leaking again. That valve is a real SOB to get out of the air cleaner housing, but since it has been previously repaired with RTV, I'm afraid it will be nearly impossible to remove a second time without completely destroying it (hence the need for a new one). I guess VW never figured these would need replacing, because I can't even find a source that is NLA, and all the junk yard air cleaner housings that may have them are long gone. Can't even find anything on eBay.

For anybody else wondering how useful that valve really is, I can confirm that without it, you will smell gas sometimes after a drive, and when it works, you won't smell any gas (that's assuming all your other hoses and vac lines are in good shape.) I also noticed my bus is not making as much power as it should, because the leaky purge valve was also bleeding off the vacuum signal to my distributor advance. After plugging this vacuum line, the engine power is restored, but now I'm getting a annoying gas smell.....

If anybody has a used one, I'm interested. Please PM me.

[airschooled]

I just heard back from the eBay seller. Someone had them made in India years ago, but the seller said the profit wasn't worth the hassle. The seller recently moved warehouses and is keeping an eye out for his/her leftover stock to turn up soon in the inventory process. So we may get lucky soon; we'll see.

I've never seen a 76-77 EEC valve leak, so finding one of those air filters might be a good temporary solution until you can find the new diaphragm.

Robbie
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[BayCreamPuff]

Found 3 air cleaners in the classifieds

$30 http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1938686
$50 http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1583116
$50 (comes with AFM) http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=2003643
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'79 CA Stock FI Deluxe Campmobile

Earl Grey
'87 GoWesty 2.2 Westfalia

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'00 Eurovan VR6 Full Camper

[oscarsnapkin]

[Abscate]

At the risk of offending stock types you could rig a purge valve from a modern car easily. It looks like that valve just actuated under high vacuum, so one would have to think about what signal to use

The canister probably needs venting 10% of driving time or something like that?
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[69BahamaYellow]

I'd say yes, the downside to plugging the purge valve is gas smell, which sucks, if you've gone to all the trouble of replacing all the gas tank vent hoses and filler neck hoses that usually cause the gas stink..... Also, in the winter the heater fan and engine cooling fan sucks all that gassy air right into passenger side, if you don't turn off the heat before startup.... If you park in a garage, the open purge valve will also stink up your garage; I'm not sure it's enough to cause a fire or anything, but I don't want to take that chance.

I'm open to rigging another purge valve; just need to source a vacuum operated type. Most of the domestic versions I know of are electrical (ie. solenoid valve).

Thanks Baycreampuff for posting the used air cleaner housings. that seems like the easiest, so I'll go that route first.

[BayCreamPuff]

Here's another for $20 - http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=607148
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Cream Puff
'79 CA Stock FI Deluxe Campmobile

Earl Grey
'87 GoWesty 2.2 Westfalia

Marsha Mellow
'00 Eurovan VR6 Full Camper

[Abscate]

Why not wire a purge valve to the fourth gear switch? At highway speeds, you could purge the canister with impunity, I think. Idea only.
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[busdaddy]

I suspect a valve that opens any time the engine is running would suffice, the primary function of the EEC valve is to prevent the release of tank fumes when parked. A solenoid valve triggered by the charge light would work, or even some sort of semi passive system, perhaps a diaphragm valve actuated by manifold vacuum or the advance signal?, just a thought

A section of the cuff or palm of a chemical resistant rubber glove would likely substitute for the OG diaphragm fine, as long as it's sealed so the vacuum signal can lift it off the center nipple when running it's doing what it's designed to do.
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[airschooled]

[Abscate]

Yeah, you are. Evap canister air won't have any fuel value, it will burn like air ( or oxygenate like air, whatever) I could swag how much mol percent of HC is in that feed but I'm still recovering from Beef Wellington.
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[SGKent]

If one looks at other cars with L-jet they share similar plumbing. Think of it like Intel today. Bosch invents a FI system and publishes specs for all the items that attach to it. The auto manufacturer follows Bosch's specs the same way s motherboard maker follows Intel's specs when building a motherboard and case / cooling etc. Mann Hummel (MHO) made the PVC, I am guessing they made the EEC too, and probably the air boxes to Bosch specs.
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[Amskeptic]

[69BahamaYellow]

Thanks for all the insight, guys!

[williamM]

[quote="Amskeptic"]

[foxmon]