iAmbusher

Hey All,

I had a P0441 P0446 code, did a smoke test at a local indy shop, they said the Vapor Canister Purge Solenoid (part # 25860-20020) was the cause of the leak.
They reset the CEL.
That was on Oct 21st 2021.
New part (25860-20020) is available locally.

Questions;
1) Its been 3 weeks and I have been daily driving the car, maybe a 100 miles, the CEL didn't come back on, is the problem resolved by itself? Should I bother going through with this part replacement ?
2) Can I do this myself (save money on shop labor)? If so, how do I go about it?

PS: I do notice a slight oder like oil (maybe fuel) in the cabin, is that related to this?

I searched the forums and didn't see related answer posted.

Thanks
Car: 1998 Lexus ES300

Arsenii

Hello,

I've had a P0440 and P0446 codes a while back, P0440 was a result of a bad gas cap, and P0446 was caused by a Purge Valve that got frozen in place due to rust. They were only coming up once in a blue moon for a while, after which I would reset them and drive as if nothing happened for another half a year or so, until they started appearing more like once a week, which is where I finally went to diagnose them.

I have a 2000 ES300 where they moved the Charcoal Canister on the bottom of the car, near the gas tank, yet I still managed to replace the valve without even lifting the car. Your Charcoal Canister is located under the hood, so it is just a matter of unscrewing one bolt and disconnecting a few vacuum lines; here is a Parts Diagram that shows the location of the valve to make things easier, you can track the valve down by following the hose from a Pressure Sensor on the Driver's side. As for the part to use, I managed to adopt a valve from under the hood that I found at the junkyard in descent condition (90910-12196 instead of 90910-12198), that way I didn't have to pay about $70 for a new one. Yours is even easier, since all the hoses on it face the same way, so it should be plug-and-play for you.

Hope this helps and best of luck!

iAmbusher

This is helpful! Thank you!
Will do this and report back!

hap7

iAmbusher,
Any update on performing Arsenii's fix? I have the same codes and am hoping to learn from your experience?

iAmbusher

Hi Hap7,

So i didn't end up doing the fix,
I went in for a smoke test as mentioned in my post and they reset the CEL at that time;
Since than I put over 1500 kms, and the CEL light (and the code) didn't come back.
I was ready to do the fix once the light came back on but so far so good.
Maybe the smoke test cleared out the piping kinda like blowing through it.