Running Bear's January 2026 Coffee Shop

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G'mornin'. It is currently 2C at 0730 and 1 of 3 guessing sites says snow this evening, so who knows. Have to head to the base today to refill my deionized water for my humidifier. Since my big honeywell died, this little vaporizer isn't able to keep up, so I am burning through a lot of this water. The honeywell worked best with tap water since it has some chlorine in it. Kept the membrane from going "green" too quickly. I do soak them in vinegar every weekend to keep that at bay.
 
Not the best day today.

Like a year and a half ago a check engine light came on in my Audi A3 e-tron sportback PHEV. I had a OBD reader dongle (since lost) and got the code that was being thrown. Some EVAP system leak. That’s the system that sucks gas fumes from the gas fill place, in case you spill any, to the engine to burn them so the fumes don’t leak into the environment and kill us all.

Ok. No big deal. And it seems a common problem on this and similar cars when they get older. The tube is plastic and will crack with age. At the time the code threw originally the car was over 8 years old.

I didn’t have time to deal with it at the time. My car registration month came and went — we have emissions tests in my county — which on OBD equipped cars just means you can’t have any active codes that are emissions system related. After a few months I reset the code and went to get it inspected. I had not driven enough for the engine to finish the reset and the tester told me to drive a day or two and about 50 miles and to come back. I did and passed as the code had not reappeared. It reappeared in my way home from the test and re-registration. At least I was good until the next registration


Well back in October it was registration time again and I wanted to fix the problem as the stated fix on Internet forums is to wrap using self sticky silicone “tape” around a certain section of the tube that typically cracks.

I didn’t have time in October and in November we went to Japan and December was the holidays. So a week ago yesterday I decided to fix it. I had gotten the silicone tape and my son and I went to identify the tube and wrap it. It wasn’t that easy to identify as there are several tubes in the area but looking at our VW that had a version of the same engine we were able to identify the tube on that car and then find it on my car and in wrapping it we saw the tube had cracked in half. We did our best to wrap it (not that easy as there was not a lot of room to wrap around but we got it done. I went to Oreilly auto and had them check and clear it
Since my OBD dongle missing.

You need to go about 50 miles for the system to finish a reset and so after 8 days is gone the 50 miles and was going to get it tested and registered. I stopped to get something to eat and then started driving to the test place and the check engine light came back on. Drat.

So instead of going to the testing place I went to Oreilly and had them read it again to make sure it wasn’t something new. It was the same code.

So now I need to check and rewrap the tube and make sure there are t any other breaks or cracks.

And hope I don’t get pulled over for not being registered.
 
chadbag said:
Not the best day today.

Like a year and a half ago a check engine light came on in my Audi A3 e-tron sportback PHEV. I had a OBD reader dongle (since lost) and got the code that was being thrown. Some EVAP system leak. That’s the system that sucks gas fumes from the gas fill place, in case you spill any, to the engine to burn them so the fumes don’t leak into the environment and kill us all.

Ok. No big deal. And it seems a common problem on this and similar cars when they get older. The tube is plastic and will crack with age. At the time the code threw originally the car was over 8 years old.

I didn’t have time to deal with it at the time. My car registration month came and went — we have emissions tests in my county — which on OBD equipped cars just means you can’t have any active codes that are emissions system related. After a few months I reset the code and went to get it inspected. I had not driven enough for the engine to finish the reset and the tester told me to drive a day or two and about 50 miles and to come back. I did and passed as the code had not reappeared. It reappeared in my way home from the test and re-registration. At least I was good until the next registration


Well back in October it was registration time again and I wanted to fix the problem as the stated fix on Internet forums is to wrap using self sticky silicone “tape” around a certain section of the tube that typically cracks.

I didn’t have time in October and in November we went to Japan and December was the holidays. So a week ago yesterday I decided to fix it. I had gotten the silicone tape and my son and I went to identify the tube and wrap it. It wasn’t that easy to identify as there are several tubes in the area but looking at our VW that had a version of the same engine we were able to identify the tube on that car and then find it on my car and in wrapping it we saw the tube had cracked in half. We did our best to wrap it (not that easy as there was not a lot of room to wrap around but we got it done. I went to Oreilly auto and had them check and clear it
Since my OBD dongle missing.

You need to go about 50 miles for the system to finish a reset and so after 8 days is gone the 50 miles and was going to get it tested and registered. I stopped to get something to eat and then started driving to the test place and the check engine light came back on. Drat.

So instead of going to the testing place I went to Oreilly and had them read it again to make sure it wasn’t something new. It was the same code.

So now I need to check and rewrap the tube and make sure there are t any other breaks or cracks.

And hope I don’t get pulled over for not being registered.
Click to expand...
Couldn't you just reset it in the parking lot down the street and then run and get your sticker. Sounds like the way you described it comes on sporadically

When I was a fleet mechanic we pulled a few fast ones like that on the test place with engine warning. ABS ect... to get it compliant and buy us some time to get it repaired.

Edit: I re read your post and missed the part where your ODB reader was missing.
 


migalyto said:
Couldn't you just reset it in the parking lot down the street and then run and get your sticker. Sounds like the way you described it comes on sporadically

When I was a fleet mechanic we pulled a few fast ones like that on the test place with engine warning. ABS ect... to get it compliant and buy us some time to get it repaired.

Edit: I re read your post and missed the part where your ODB reader was missing.
Click to expand...
It needs to show "ready" in their testing equipment. If the car hasn't been driven long or far enough to complete a cycle, it'll show "not ready", and fail.
 
migalyto said:
Couldn't you just reset it in the parking lot down the street and then run and get your sticker. Sounds like the way you described it comes on sporadically

When I was a fleet mechanic we pulled a few fast ones like that on the test place with engine warning. ABS ect... to get it compliant and buy us some time to get it repaired.

Edit: I re read your post and missed the part where your ODB reader was missing.
Click to expand...
That's what I did last year. But the first time I did that, the emissions tester said the engine was showing that it was reset. He said I needed to go drive 50 miles and come back in a day or two. Which is what I did, and it did not come back on until after I was tested.

The problem is that the testing equipment can detect when you're doing that... Which is why the guy said I had to go drive 50 miles and come back in a day or two, so that the engine would fully reset after wiping the codes.

Only a couple counties in Utah now check emissions. Salt Lake County is one of them.

ETA: I now see Terry already answered this.
 
Kusojiji said:
Unfortunately, it sounds like it has deteriorated too far and has to be replaced. If at only 10 years it cracks that badly, it must've been pretty thin.
Click to expand...
It may have had help failing. Due to recycling regulation the auto makers have transitioned from oil based wire insulation and tubing to a soy based product which is also digestible by "critters". 9 times out of 10, an evap leak is caused by a "critter" chewing a tube or other parts like a wire or a valve. Sometimes they only make a pin hole and the best way to find it is a smoke machine. The only evap failures I otherwise see is purge valves or solenoids, usually caused by the driver. Yeah you may think it's good to squeeze the trigger til the pump is on an even dollar amount, but you are killing your evap system by doing so, and saturating the system with raw fuel. That system is designed to only handle vapors, not liquid fuel!
 


Kusojiji said:
Unfortunately, it sounds like it has deteriorated too far and has to be replaced. If at only 10 years it cracks that badly, it must've been pretty thin.
Click to expand...
Mine had a clean crack in half.


IMG_0701.jpeg
Just under the coolant reservoir there is an s bent semi-rigid line — the line that has all the bits made to look like it is bendable. If you’ve used expand it out you can see that it is cut into two.

Based on Audi forums it seems like a common issue. And common solution. I have not looked at my repair job yet since the code popped up. I tried to clean off the dust off the tube before wrapping it but it’s possible my wrap job wasn’t great. I’ll look tomorrow.

Replacing it is not a job I’d want to do at home. It goes back to the gas tank underneath the car. And it’s like $1500 supposedly based on forum comments to have it done at a dealer. No thanks.

Luckily the self-adhering silicone wrap tape is cheap and I have a lot of it.
 
kbkchooch said:
It may have had help failing. Due to recycling regulation the auto makers have transitioned from oil based wire insulation and tubing to a soy based product which is also digestible by "critters". 9 times out of 10, an evap leak is caused by a "critter" chewing a tube or other parts like a wire or a valve. Sometimes they only make a pin hole and the best way to find it is a smoke machine. The only evap failures I otherwise see is purge valves or solenoids, usually caused by the driver. Yeah you may think it's good to squeeze the trigger til the pump is on an even dollar amount, but you are killing your evap system by doing so, and saturating the system with raw fuel. That system is designed to only handle vapors, not liquid fuel!
Click to expand...
Yeah I stopped squeezing the gas pump about 20 years ago when someone said it gave you worse gas mileage.

Based on forums and the split into two tube I found I think it was just a break. We’ll see. Of If I can’t fix it with another attempt at wrapping it I’ll get a smoke machine and hook it up. I saw on a YouTube video on another Audi how to test with that.
 
kbkchooch said:
Yeah you may think it's good to squeeze the trigger til the pump is on an even dollar amount, but you are killing your evap system by doing so, and saturating the system with raw fuel. That system is designed to only handle vapors, not liquid fuel!
Click to expand...
Great advice that was given to me about 14-15 years ago. Since I originally heard it, I have also read it, maybe by Karl (or Terry) a few years back when one of them chastised Sherrel!
 
kbkchooch said:
It may have had help failing. Due to recycling regulation the auto makers have transitioned from oil based wire insulation and tubing to a soy based product which is also digestible by "critters". 9 times out of 10, an evap leak is caused by a "critter" chewing a tube or other parts like a wire or a valve. Sometimes they only make a pin hole and the best way to find it is a smoke machine. The only evap failures I otherwise see is purge valves or solenoids, usually caused by the driver. Yeah you may think it's good to squeeze the trigger til the pump is on an even dollar amount, but you are killing your evap system by doing so, and saturating the system with raw fuel. That system is designed to only handle vapors, not liquid fuel!
Click to expand...
I watch a lot of south main auto and it seems that critters don't need to be fed. they'll eat everything anyway. I think an auto maker helped make that rule.
 
The fuel filler on my car is just inches above the tank. Sometimes it is difficult to get a full tank because of that. I pump at the slowest rate that I can, so getting 3 gallons (my weekly rate), does take time. I don't know if I have an evap system. I may go take a look when it gets above 10C one of these days.

Oh, and it is hard on the back...

SUZUKI EVERY WAGON FUEL DOOR.jpg
 


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