Where is the "Purge Control Solenoid Valve"?

jaded13640 · Sep 3, 2016

I'm working on a friends 2011 Cruze. It smells like rotten eggs, which typically suggests an issue with a back or plugged up cat but has a DTC "P0443 Evaporative Emission System Purge Control Valve Circuit". I've read that if the purge system isn't functioning properly it can caused a build up of fuel in the can causing the rotten egg smell. So I don't know for sure if the purge sol is bad causing the fuel to build up in the cat or if the code is being thrown because of a bad cat.

I initially thought the part was the valve on top of the motor with one wire connection and two vacuum hoses but it's not. It looks more like a crank sensor. The main diameter of the part has two "O" rings and an electrical connector on the top. It would appear that it must go in the top of the charcoal canister, which attaches to the side of the fuel tank but, since you can't see it or reach around and touch it the part, I don't know this for sure. I'm ready to put the car up on the hoist and drop the tank enough to see but was hoping to get confirmation of this before going to that much effort. Besides, if it's an erronious code and I install the part, I won't be able to return it. I don't want my friend to be out the 30 bucks for nothing.

PLEASE, someone who knows where this is located get back with me tonight as I'm planning on dropping the tank tomorrow early afternoon when I get back from picking up a motor, IF it's out and ready to be picked up. If not, I was going to start the day by dropping the tank on the Cruze.

Thank you in advance,

Wayne

NickD · Sep 3, 2016

1 - B47 Fuel Pressure Sensor
2 - Q13 Evaporative Emission Vent Solenoid Valve
3 - A7 Fuel Pump and Level Sensor Assembly
4 - B150 Fuel Tank Pressure Sensor
5 - G12 Fuel Pump

Its where it shouldn't be, right side of the fuel tank where the carbon canister is exposed to all kinds of road salt and even water puddles. Never was a problem when mounted up high on the firewall, is sure now, and you sure don't want to live up north here and have your codes read for a so-called emissions test. Up here with all that crap they put on the roads, gets into the open vents on the carbon canister, get sucked into the purge valve and freezes it up. Used naughty words more than once.

Most of the time, just back the thing up on oil changing ramps, bring that canister and purge valve into a warm home, thaw and dry it up. Purge valve is normally open, but suppose to close up when the ECM gets bored and decides to do a test.

Rotten egg smell reminds me when we were blessed with the brand new EPA with 1972 models, first year the catalytic converter became law buying high sulfur gas from the middle east. So breathing sulfuric acid instead. Was so bad, had to move north where my neighbors are trees. Nice introduction to this brand new agency, solve one problem create ten more.

Really have to watch your spark plugs, carbon up, still burning carbon, builds up on the center electrode insulator with a direct short to ground. Even minor misfires can fry the hail out of these dang things, and not exactly cheap to replace.

oilburner · Sep 3, 2016

look under the hood for the vapor line that has the green service port cap for when we do a smoke test . follow that line toward the engine where it connects to the purge valve. the valve will have a 2 wire plug. sounds like the purge valve is stuck open an engine vac. is drawing fuel vapours through the charcoal canister causing the rich mixture which will give you that rotten egg smell.

oilburner · Sep 3, 2016

NickD said:
1 - B47 Fuel Pressure Sensor
2 - Q13 Evaporative Emission Vent Solenoid Valve
3 - A7 Fuel Pump and Level Sensor Assembly
4 - B150 Fuel Tank Pressure Sensor
5 - G12 Fuel Pump

Its where it shouldn't be, right side of the fuel tank where the carbon canister is exposed to all kinds of road salt and even water puddles. Never was a problem when mounted up high on the firewall, is sure now, and you sure don't want to live up north here and have your codes read for a so-called emissions test. Up here with all that crap they put on the roads, gets into the open vents on the carbon canister, get sucked into the purge valve and freezes it up. Used naughty words more than once.

Most of the time, just back the thing up on oil changing ramps, bring that canister and purge valve into a warm home, thaw and dry it up. Purge valve is normally open, but suppose to close up when the ECM gets bored and decides to do a test.

Rotten egg smell reminds me when we were blessed with the brand new EPA with 1972 models, first year the catalytic converter became law buying high sulfur gas from the middle east. So breathing sulfuric acid instead. Was so bad, had to move north where my neighbors are trees. Nice introduction to this brand new agency, solve one problem create ten more.

Really have to watch your spark plugs, carbon up, still burning carbon, builds up on the center electrode insulator with a direct short to ground. Even minor misfires can fry the hail out of these dang things, and not exactly cheap to replace.

purge valve is normally closed its the vent valve that is normally open. your picture shows the vent valve not the purge.

jaded13640 · Sep 3, 2016

Oil burner, so not under the tank? I traced both those two lines. At least I thought I did. One goes down to the tank or canister and the other doesn't seem to go to this part I'm talking about. The part I'm talking about doesn't have a place for a hose to connect. It has a two wire connector at one end a cylindrical part that goes into something, I'm assuming the canister, and seals with two o rings. No hoses going into it. Nothing on the motor that looks like that part. I spent at least an hour hugging that stinking motor looking for that part....it's not there. If you've got a diagram or picture that'll prove me wrong, nobody would be happier than me. But I think we're talking about two different parts. Are you saying the hose with the green cap physically connects to the purge solenoid valve?

Thanks,

Wayne

oilburner · Sep 3, 2016

Wayne
google chev cruze purge valve location an you will see it. how the system works: when the ecm decides to do an evap test it closes the vent valve, then it opens the purge solenoid which applys engine vac to the complete fuel system, once the correct voltage is seen at the pressure sensor it closes the purge an monitors pressure sensor voltage to see if the system can hold a vac. if the voltage starts to change too soon the ecm determines that theres a leak, depending how fast it changes the ecm knows if its a small or large leak. after the test is completed the ecm opens the vent valve till the next test. all hydro carbons are vented through the charcoal canister before it goes out the vent valve. that's why the purge solenoid is at or very close to the engine because that's where the vac is.

NickD · Sep 4, 2016

Brain dead, just copied what the shop manual said, called the valve at the rear the purge valve, its not, located in the engine compartment, vent valve is back by the tank.

Broke rule number one, never reply until you drank at least one pot of coffee.

oilburner · Sep 4, 2016

its all good Nick!....................hope Wayne found it.

jaded13640 · Sep 5, 2016

Yea, I found it. It's a pain but you can drop the tank on the exhaust, let the canister side hand down and get that the solenoid from there. I changed it and the rotten egg smell went almost completely away almost immediately. It's still throwing the code though, I assume it has to do the process a few times before all the fuel comes out of the canister or something. The problem has been improved greatly, if it doesn't go away after about another week I'm going to have to assume too much fuel got into the cat.

By the way, I did google it and found pretty much squat, which is why I googled this forum and found the part before I got an answer.

But thanks for the help, when you work on cars for a living you need answers pretty much immediately and for the most part it doesn't work like that, unless you have access to resources I don't have access to. The dealership may have been able to help but I needed the answer on a Saturday when they were closed. Besides, most of them won't tell you squat anymore. They tell you to bring it in and for 150 bucks they'll show you. I charged her what it costed me for the part, at my discount and about 40 bucks for dropping the tank.

Everyone who owns a new vehicle should have access to this information. They paid a crap load of money for a heap and then nowhere does it say where the part is. Now I know.

Thanks for trying to help,

Wayne

NickD · Sep 5, 2016

Shop manual for my 65 Buick Electra, had most of the stuff new cars have today was four buck with free shipping, 2012 Cruze was 200 bucks plus shipping, I see that want 375 bucks for the 2016 Cruze manuals.

Evaporative emission codes are type A, meaning after they are set, stay set, leaving the gas cap off will set a code that has to be reset. They also leave historical codes, those will clear up, but if not, won't pass an emissions test.

Crazy system anyway, key evaporation was in a vented carburetor bowl, they don't use these anymore, fuel injectors are closed loop. Purge valve opens, vent valve closes, tank has a pressure sensor in it, looking for about 2-4"/Hg. Leaks can be anywhere, on one found rust build up on the fuel filler line going into a rubber tube. Most use a smoke test requiring special equipment. All over the vehicle, from the very rear to the very front. Since fuel is more dense than gas, won't even see a fuel leak, but air can leak in.

Then it may not even be a leak problem, could be a pressure sensor problem, has a connector under there exposed to all kind of road salt, but if the sensor is bad, really a PITA to replace, have to drain the tank first. Putting the vent valve back there with the canister is really stupid, carbon canister is suppose to collect gas fumes, but sucked in once you reach a constant speed. If it is also soaking wet from road puddles or slushy road salt, also sucking water into your gas. What in the hail were they thinking? Its cheaper to put that crap back there. Along with the fuel regulator in the tank, saves a hose clear to the front. But not only have to replace the fuel regulator, but the entire fuel pump, integrated with it.

With all these pipe line leaks, tanker cars tipping over on hundred year old railroad tracks, well leaking all over the place, EPA picks on the little guy. If you can't do this by yourself, out of warranty, paying some high school kid that doesn't know crap a hundred bucks an hour to try to find this needle in a haystack. Cheaper to trade it in.

oilburner · Sep 5, 2016

jaded13640 said:
Yea, I found it. It's a pain but you can drop the tank on the exhaust, let the canister side hand down and get that the solenoid from there. I changed it and the rotten egg smell went almost completely away almost immediately. It's still throwing the code though, I assume it has to do the process a few times before all the fuel comes out of the canister or something. The problem has been improved greatly, if it doesn't go away after about another week I'm going to have to assume too much fuel got into the cat.

By the way, I did google it and found pretty much squat, which is why I googled this forum and found the part before I got an answer.

But thanks for the help, when you work on cars for a living you need answers pretty much immediately and for the most part it doesn't work like that, unless you have access to resources I don't have access to. The dealership may have been able to help but I needed the answer on a Saturday when they were closed. Besides, most of them won't tell you squat anymore. They tell you to bring it in and for 150 bucks they'll show you. I charged her what it costed me for the part, at my discount and about 40 bucks for dropping the tank.

Everyone who owns a new vehicle should have access to this information. They paid a crap load of money for a heap and then nowhere does it say where the part is. Now I know.

Thanks for trying to help,

Wayne

ok I just googled again.................2011 CHEV CRUZE PURGE VALVE LOCATION.an several images come up showing location under hood . Nicks pic clearly showed that the vent valve is located at the canister.

oilburner · Sep 6, 2016

I guess Wayne has left the forum to install the wrong parts on other friends cars.

jaded13640 · Sep 7, 2016

Oil Burner, according to the code, that was the part. That part did not go under the hood. It went into the charcoal canister. I would have gladly installed it under the hood as it wouldn't have had to drop the tank down to get at it but it didn't go there. I googled it too. It showed it going into the charcoal canister. It would have been nice if that code referred to the part under the hood with the two hoses going to it, it would have taken ten minutes to change.

At least that's what I understood from what I read elswhere and here. Maybe I got it wrong but when you read off what the code says to the parts counter person and that's the part they hand you...and the box says what the code read...what else was I supposed to do?

NickD · Sep 7, 2016

If the code said the vent valve was defective, either had a completely opened solenoid or a shorted one, but the latter would have blown the fuse.

Bet is you opened that valve would find a random would coil using hair thin wire, cost of copper is going up and up. Use to solder those leads to connector terminals, but that gave away to ultrasonic welding. If the foot pressure was a tad too high, would thin out that magnet wire, weaken it and with vibration would break off. A tad too low, wouldn't get a good connection and that wire would fall off.

Ha, as a kid would see plenty of old gray haired guys working in shops, not anymore, just young kids. With my bad accident in therapy, met many young kids that were automotive mechanics with physical problems, they are pushed to death to meet reduced labor times. And the way they are making vehicles today, far more interested in reducing cost and assembly time, but completely miserable to work on. Hail of a lot easier to snap parts together than to unsnap them.

Just saying, don't wonder why we are having problems. All those plastic embedded components are throwaway. Then have a government that b!tches about recycling.

oilburner · Sep 7, 2016

jaded13640 said:
Oil Burner, according to the code, that was the part. That part did not go under the hood. It went into the charcoal canister. I would have gladly installed it under the hood as it wouldn't have had to drop the tank down to get at it but it didn't go there. I googled it too. It showed it going into the charcoal canister. It would have been nice if that code referred to the part under the hood with the two hoses going to it, it would have taken ten minutes to change.

At least that's what I understood from what I read elswhere and here. Maybe I got it wrong but when you read off what the code says to the parts counter person and that's the part they hand you...and the box says what the code read...what else was I supposed to do?

your first post you asked where the purge valve was an I told you where it was located. end of story. good luck !

Where is the "Purge Control Solenoid Valve"?

jaded13640

NickD

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oilburner

jaded13640

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NickD

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jaded13640

NickD

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