Cracked Charcoal Canister: Not Under Warranty

[Cappaworks]

My 2026 Tacoma TRD Off-Road has 3700 miles on it. I recently had the check engine and cruise control system malfunction lights come on. Just prior to this the “check fuel cap” notification came on. The dealer found a crack in the charcoal canister and said “it probably got hit by a rock”. So it’s not under warranty. This canister is protected by a crossmember and the spare tire covers it almost completely. The rock theory seems far fetched to me. Anyone else have a cracked charcoal canister issue?

Sponsored

 

[maxx075]

Oof, I'd find a different dealer.

 

[Cappaworks]

Oof, I'd find a different dealer.

Well, I already got Toyota Care involved. They’ve agreed to cover only the labor. If it’s not a common problem, I got hit by a one in a million rock.

 

[maxhen3x]

Go back and tell them you’re going to put a go pro on and drive down a gravel road to prove no damn Rock hit it. The ask them what they are going to do? Treat them like absolute trash that’s and make them know they’re stupid and scummy liars. That’s what I would do. Make them feel bad about themselves. Start insulting them personally about their poor performance as techs and service advisors until they fix it. Leave a one start google review

 

[maxx075]

Well, I already got Toyota Care involved. They’ve agreed to cover only the labor. If it’s not a common problem, I got hit by a one in a million rock.

 

[Cappaworks]

Thanks, that’s helpful.
We shall see. If it’s some other issue besides a rock, it will happen again. They will have a tough time explaining that. I pulled it apart to take a closer look and to me it looks like it burst under pressure. I have driven a lot of elevation and temperature extremes in the time I’ve had the truck but I’ve also had the suspension flexed out a lot in all directions. If it’s caused by frame flex or internal pressure it will happen again quickly.

 

[Wife bought my 24 TRD]

You are doing everything you can by getting toyota care involved. I do agree. I would take it to a different dealership as well.
When we spend as much money as we did for our trucks we shouldn't have to fight to get the warranty problems fixed.
Sorry to hear about your problems with the truck .

 

[lauren01]

Well, I already got Toyota Care involved. They’ve agreed to cover only the labor. If it’s not a common problem, I got hit by a one in a million rock.

Good to hear you got them to at least cover labor. Do you know whether the canister is plastic or metal? Are those heat sinks we can see on it? I don’t know how hot those might get when vapors are coming through. Wondering if there is a stress fracture relating to a manufacturing defect. A small rock or other debris getting up there is possible but far-fetched.
Assuming the canister coverage is under the emissions warranty, it’s 8 years/80K miles unless yours is different per your state law.

 

[Cappaworks]

You are doing everything you can by getting toyota care involved. I do agree. I would take it to a different dealership as well.
When we spend as much money as we did for our trucks we shouldn't have to fight to get the warranty problems fixed.
Sorry to hear about your problems with the truck .

I had considered that option. But after discussing that possibility with Toyota Care I wasn’t convinced it was my best choice. If the second dealer came to the same conclusion, not only would I owe half the repair bill, but I would owe the $215 diagnostic from the first dealer. I’ll go my current route and update if it happens again. In the meantime, maybe others with a similar issue will find this post.

 

[Cappaworks]

Good to hear you got them to at least cover labor. Do you know whether the canister is plastic or metal? Are those heat sinks we can see on it? I don’t know how hot those might get when vapors are coming through. Wondering if there is a stress fracture relating to a manufacturing defect. A small rock or other debris getting up there is possible but far-fetched.
Assuming the canister coverage is under the emissions warranty, it’s 8 years/80K miles unless yours is different per your state law.

It’s plastic. The system doesn’t get hot. It simply keeps gasoline fumes from venting into the atmosphere.

It’s very protected, especially where the crack is. Just above the side ports. The dealer theory is ridiculous.

It could be a defect, or maybe someone at the factory bashed the spare tire against it during assembly (I had never lowered the spare). The component IS under warranty longer than the bumper to bumper, unless it’s damaged by an “outside influence”, which is what the dealer claim is. To me, it looks like the system overpressured and popped the canister like a balloon.

 

[Wife bought my 24 TRD]

I had considered that option. But after discussing that possibility with Toyota Care I wasn’t convinced it was my best choice. If the second dealer came to the same conclusion, not only would I owe half the repair bill, but I would owe the $215 diagnostic from the first dealer. I’ll go my current route and update if it happens again. In the meantime, maybe others with a similar issue will find this post.

It seems you have ran this problem around and back again in every way possible. Looking forward to hearing about the final results.

 

[Cappaworks]

UPDATE:

After lowering the spare tire and inspecting the charcoal canister for witness marks from a rock impact (I didn’t find any), I had the charcoal canister replaced at the dealer. As mentioned above, Toyota Care agreed to cover labor. I also asked the dealer to take one more look to make sure the damage wasn’t caused by an over pressure instead of an impact. They still believe a rock large enough to cause this kind of damage mysteriously flew cleanly through the narrow gap between the bed, frame and wiring harness and then somehow circled around or magically through two different metal brackets to hit the canister on the opposite side. The metal brackets are undamaged. I know, it sounds improbable, but it looks absolutely impossible and preposterous when you see it all in person.

Note how the cracked area is fully covered by two metal mounting brackets. Also note that this area of the canister is protected by the spare tire from underneath.

While waiting for the repair to be completed, I got curious and looked up the part number (77740-04080). Of course I could find it cheaper online, which is expected. But then I went to my Toyota dealer parts website and found the canister was on sale for $419 with an MSRP of $533, and not the $612 I was being charged. I get dealers charging more than online retailers, but not if I could just walk 20 feet to the parts counter. After some discussion they agreed to take off $200.

I’m awaiting the Toyota Care labor refund. Needless to say I’m a little disappointed in Toyota overall. I kinda expected more. I like the dealer, but I’m now having second thoughts. I kept the broken part, so if it happens again in the same way I’ll have something to argue with. I believe something went wrong and the canister burst after filling the fuel tank and driving to a higher elevation with a much cooler temp or perhaps on the way back down. Maybe a purge valve got stuck? I donno, but I can’t see it being from an impact.

 

[lauren01]

@Cappaworks valuable post for us who go up and down to high elevations.
Filed into my neural network…Thanks a bunch.

Sponsored