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Hey everyone, I was just poking around in the engine bay of the wagon, looking through the book etc looking for solutions to an odd problem the engine has. It starts up fine, pull the choke out a bit if it's cold, warms up, choke in no problem. But after it had warmed up, I was poking around and flipped the lever on the air filter intake (winter/summer) to see what would happen. Well the engine stumbled and coughed and almost stalled. I flipped it back but it stayed rough, I had to pull the choke out again. Loosening the centre wingnut on the air filter case fixes the problem

I decided to check the emission control system, first the PCV. You can see in the pics that the hose end is covered in oil, is this normal? once I got it out the rattled which the book says means its working but I've heard that's not a valid test anymore? also the intake manifold end was covered in carbon (a bit blurry in the pic)

One other thing, I went to check the ECS canister, and it's not there! The book says front left hand side of the engine bay, the pic I took is almost the same as the one in the book, but there's no canister! I looked everywhere but couldn't find the bloody thing. I'm sure this is a total noob observation but there's nothing in the book about it being exclusive to some models or anything like that.

Oh well if you've managed to read that essay and get the questions out of it, any suggestions would be appreciated. Pics below

The oily PCV in place



Blurry but you can see the carbon



Wheres the ECS??


Oops I should have said I know the emission control system wouldn't be causing the air filter/carburettor problem, but I was just checking it today

just make sure all the crank case breather hoses have no carbon in them. I had issues once in my L series when the hoses were so full of carbon they were actually blocked.

subius wrote:just make sure all the crank case breather hoses have no carbon in them. I had issues once in my L series when the hoses were so full of carbon they were actually blocked.

That's interesting, but do the EA81's have them? I couldn't find anything in the book. It's annoying but at the moment the workshop manual is my only source of information, oh and of course this website

Am I right in thinking the ECS canister was never put into Australian cars? there is another emissions part (EGR valve) in the manual and I can plainly see on the intake manifold where it should be, but there is a blank lump of metal. Well then I guess this thread is pointless now...

Thanks for listening to me think out loud

Silverbullet wrote:Am I right in thinking the ECS canister was never put into Australian cars? there is another emissions part (EGR valve) in the manual and I can plainly see on the intake manifold where it should be, but there is a blank lump of metal. Well then I guess this thread is pointless now...

My '89 Brumby has the canister and an EGR valve.

Silverbullet wrote:That's interesting, but do the EA81's have them? I couldn't find anything in the book. It's annoying but at the moment the workshop manual is my only source of information, oh and of course this website

Am I right in thinking the ECS canister was never put into Australian cars? there is another emissions part (EGR valve) in the manual and I can plainly see on the intake manifold where it should be, but there is a blank lump of metal. Well then I guess this thread is pointless now...

Thanks for listening to me think out loud

Can you show in your book what this "ECS" means?
All Aussie cars since 1977 have had charcoal canisters, ADR 27A? Or 27C?

ECS stands for Evaporative Control system and under check and replacement it says"

The function of the ECS emissions system is to draw fuel vapors from the tank and carburetor, store them in a charcoal filled canister and then burn them during normal engine operation.

It also says if a fuel odor is detected it should be checked immediately, which is interesting since there is definitely a strong fuel odor coming from the engine.
This car had an engine replacement a few years ago, could it be that the mechanics just didn't put the ECS canister back in? But that wouldn't explain the missing EGR valve, and I would have thought if you took the canister out the engine wouldn't run

Silverbullet wrote:ECS stands for Evaporative Control system and under check and replacement it says"



It also says if a fuel odor is detected it should be checked immediately, which is interesting since there is definitely a strong fuel odor coming from the engine.
This car had an engine replacement a few years ago, could it be that the mechanics just didn't put the ECS canister back in? But that wouldn't explain the missing EGR valve, and I would have thought if you took the canister out the engine wouldn't run

They must have taken the canister out, idiots.

The canister does not lower performance as some might think, now your tank is venting to atmosphere or incorrectly somehow to the carb/airfilter etc.

Well today I was poking around again in the engine bay and dad came out, I pointed out the mounting holes where the canister should be and he said there was never anything mounted there, even before the engine swap

Probably unrelated but I was trying to find the cause of the rough idle in all it's randomness, And once again tightening/loosening the air filter wingnuts altered the idle speed. I tightened them up all the way and disconnected the hot air pipe going into the air filter, and blocked both air intake holes. In hindsight it was probably a silly thing to do but either way the engine did not change one bit So where was it's air coming from? bad air filter assembly? vacuum leak? bad seal somewhere?

It's been doing this ever since the engine swap, but we never had it checked out because "The car worked and got him to work and back that's all it had to do" but for some reason all this is really bothering me, since it should run so much better/cleaner.

I'd take the aircleaner off, block any associated hoses after removal and start the engine.

I'm also interested in how your fuel tank vents without a charcoal canister.

Does it have any open steel pipes in the engine bay going to nowhere?

littlewhiteute wrote:I'd take the aircleaner off, block any associated hoses after removal and start the engine.

I'm also interested in how your fuel tank vents without a charcoal canister.

Does it have any open steel pipes in the engine bay going to nowhere?

Ok I'll try that tomorrow, what should I expect? And there isn't any steel pipes, but up near the fuel filter there is one rubber pipe, probably about 2-3mm ID that's disconnected, the other end goes into a little black cylinder next to the fuel filter, and if you block the pipe while the engine is running, it will eventually idle rough and struggle, all very peculiar

Silverbullet wrote:Ok I'll try that tomorrow, what should I expect? And there isn't any steel pipes, but up near the fuel filter there is one rubber pipe, probably about 2-3mm ID that's disconnected, the other end goes into a little black cylinder next to the fuel filter, and if you block the pipe while the engine is running, it will eventually idle rough and struggle, all very peculiar

Can you post some pics?

The offending hose and what it joins to

The other end of the black cylinder next to the filter



Sorry the first ones a bit blurry, the only camera with batteries was the huge chunky one that takes massive photos, and it's hard to hold with one hand

That's your fuel pump, the black hose is the pump vent hose (early model).

Just goes to atmosphere. Blocking it eventually stops the pump.

littlewhiteute wrote:That's your fuel pump, the black hose is the pump vent hose (early model).

Just goes to atmosphere. Blocking it eventually stops the pump.

Ahh I see, that solves alot of headscratching I thought that thing was the fuel pump, now I know, thanks!:D