S-type 2003 4.2 Base

So far replaced tank seals, fuel cap and purge valve & canister. Still get P0442 after approx 80kms between 1/4 & 3/4 full tank.

Dealer says smoke test leakage is around fuel tank - I think they replaced the tank seals but I did as well - to no avail. They want to drop the tank to further investigate! $$$$

Has anyone removed a fuel tank from a 2003+ s-type? Says you have to drop rear axle and all that, but while under the car I wondered if just disconnecting and dropping the drive shaft would give enough room to extract the tank?

Don't want to replace the tank (mega bucks) but as is the car won't pass clean test here in Canada.

Anyone have any other solutions like a magical gluelike additive that can be added to the fuel that will seal minute leaks without clogging up injectors!!

 

Are you in Ontario by any chance? Maybe update your profile in any case.

If you're coming due for one of our lovely E-tests, there is a way around this bureaucratic issue. Fill the gas tank to maximum and immediately clear the code(s). Do the drive cycle till you get the P1111 (monitors ready) making sure the fuel level doesn't go below 80%, topping up if necessary.

The E-test station will see the all clear, and you get your 2 year approval.

What a stupid system we have.

I'll be following your progress here, I have the same code. Have you looked at the other posts on the subject- one poster claimed a victory by changing the small valve on the drivers side of the engine.

I've got the

 

Er, I suspect it won't set P1111 in that case as that idea should stop the EVAP monitor from completing.

There again, many places are allowed a number (one or 2) unset monitors, how about there?

No-one else seems to have had to drop the tank to find & fix a P0442 and it's afflicted a few.

 

The EVAP test is inhibited from being performed when the tank is above 75% and below 25% (approx) so the system apparently allows P1111 to be set if all else is OK.

The present incarnation of emissions testing where I live, and I suspect the OP, makes no allowance for any deviations. A technician plugs in a code reader and the codes downloaded. ANY code it finds other than P1111 is an immediate fail. This includes, for example, a single ignition misfire event way back when that never repeated or codes that have nothing to do with emissions.

This 'fail' requires that the car be taken away to be 'fixed' and put through a drive cycle attempting to achieve monitors ready state at which point a re-test (paying an additional fee) can be attempted.

A person without a code reader is really at the mercy of the system. The amount of gasoline wasted by people having to drive around the countryside hoping to set the monitors ready creates far more pollution than is saved by catching the very few cars that have technical problems.

This issue causes enough public outcry that it was on the election platform of a candidate for provincial Premier. Unfortunately, he lost.

 

Oops. It's not supposed to bypass any monitor test so that's a bug if it does!

I am doubtful, however...

(Driving around is mostly a daft and ineffective way to set monitors. Mostly a fix is needed i.e. replace faulty item etc.)

 

Maybe so, but that's how I got my e-test pass. The code was subsequently re-set and the CEL illuminated as soon as I let the fuel level drop below 75%. If the test was required to set monitors ready, a car with a full tank would need to be driven the equivalent of 1/4 tank before the evap test would be performed. Quite a waste of fuel.

 

Oh dear, that's a rather bad loophole. May as well have no EVAP monitor!

Many places allow one (sometimes two) monitors to be unset, of course, and then it'd be no trouble (but, correctly, P0442 would be).

 

You'd know better than me, but I believe there's many tests that are only performed after certain operating criteria are met. What I'm doing is certainly exploiting a loophole, but there again I'm sure the Jag engineers never intended the system to be (mis)used as is presently being done by our bureaucrats!

I was just speaking with an acquaintance who was denied an e-test pass on his Saab due to an intermittent fault with the ABS.

 

Thanks for your input and comments. Mikey, yes I'm in Ontario and it looks like I will have to attempt the code workaround. I don't particularly feel that guilty about a P0442 - "It means a very small leak has been detected. In fact, the leak can be from a hole as small as 0.04 in diameter - ODBCodes.com)", especially as at this stage it looks like a new tank may be required and a bill for probably over $2000.

Still wondered if anyone has removed a tank by dropping the drive shaft. This I could manage but dropping the rear subframe/axle is way above my garage equipment level!

It's a shame as the car has not reached 160,000 kms yet and has had all the usual replacements done to it (suspension, ball joints, injectors etc, water pump and so on), yet its probably only worth $2500 as a trade in.

 

It's nearly certain that it's NOT a tank leak.

Bear in mind you have the "small" not "very small" leak and as such it's very possible to find & fix it.

Did you look in the codes PDF (free in JTIS) at the list of known causes? The tank is the very last and judging by posts on here I don't see it being the tank.

Mikey - I certainly would hope ABS faults would be a (safety-related) fail...

 

Yes, but it's purely an emission inspection, not a safety. That's another story for another day..............