Cracked Charcoal Canister: Not Under Warranty

[Will721]

Looking at the pics, I probably would have made the same call unfortunately. Plastic parts don't really just fracture like that without an impact. When they fail, its almost always splits right down a seam. These parts aren't 3d printed, they are molded into multiple parts and "welded" together. A standard failure from a defect would be for one of those "welds" to fail. There is of course exceptions, which is usually in the form of thin spots in the molded part. It broke away from a seem in a clearly very thick portion of the plastic in a non uniform way.

Just read this post, find it ridiculous how they state a rock hit it with no proof. @Cappaworks

1). I’d ask for a complete written explanation on the rock theory - i.e. the rock came up through this opening and did this etc.

2). Why is a plastic part that is basically a canister $400+ dollars?

It’s things like this that make me want to just go back to an old truck. In my case I’d go back to a mint low mileage late ‘97-‘00 GMT400 and pay the premium price for condition. At least they are cheap to repair and pretty damn reliable. And I know them having put on hundreds of thousands of kms on them.

You may want to rethink that old Chevy if you want to avoid evaporative emissions and charcoal canisters. They have them too. You have to go a long way back, and even then they still used metal canisters until you get back to the 60s? Don't quote me on the exact year, but evap was right around 1970 to be standard and probably earlier for some cars.

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[Cappaworks]

@Will721 : The problem is that an impact hard enough to cause the plastic to break like this would leave some sort of witness mark. A ding, chip, bent bracket…something. But there is nothing. Add this to the protected location and it seems highly unlikely that a rock hit it.

My other theory is that it came cracked from the factory. Perhaps whoever installed the spare tire banged it around excessively and smacked the charcoal canister. Unlikely, but possible.

My final theory is that it was caused by frame flex off-road. I use my truck on fairly aggressive trails where the suspension and frame are certainly flexing. I put on a lot of dirt miles. Perhaps the mounting bracket twisted in a way that it broke the molded portion that is attached to the bracket. I think this is unlikely, but certainly more likely than an impact, considering the location.

 

[Will721]

@Will721 : The problem is that an impact hard enough to cause the plastic to break like this would leave some sort of witness mark. A ding, chip, bent bracket…something. But there is nothing. Add this to the protected location and it seems highly unlikely that a rock hit it.

My other theory is that it came cracked from the factory. Perhaps whoever installed the spare tire banged it around excessively and smacked the charcoal canister. Unlikely, but possible.

My final theory is that it was caused by frame flex off-road. I use my truck on fairly aggressive trails where the suspension and frame are certainly flexing. I put on a lot of dirt miles. Perhaps the mounting bracket twisted in a way that it broke the molded portion that is attached to the bracket. I think this is unlikely, but certainly more likely than an impact, considering the location.

Whether it has a witness mark can depend on the size of rock or material used. Some plastics are more brittle afterall. Frame flex is quite possible, although I would assume there'd be more reports out there of the issue. Lots of people taking these trucks off road, many doing way rougher stuff than anyone on this forum I'd imagine. So I'm not positive there.

An issue from the factory would probably not be possible though. Evap systems are pretty sensitive. The code would have set almost immediately, not nearly 4000 miles later. Codes are usually set either by timer or key cycles. Both of which would have been far surpassed by then. Even if you hopped in the truck and drove non stop for all those miles you'd get the code from fuel stops alone.

 

[Cappaworks]

@Will721 : Well, you have your theories, I have mine. I still don’t claim to know exactly what happened, but given the location, a rock impact seems highly unlikely, even more unlikely than some of my other theories. If you look closely, you’ll see that two metal brackets cover this location. In order for a rock to hit here it would have to magically travel through two steel brackets to strike the plastic. Perhaps what you don’t realize is that this location faces inward not outward toward the passenger frame rail. Secondly, if you look closely at the crack, you’ll see that the more flexible portion of the canister break is pushed outward, not inward. Leading me to believe the burst theory.

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