so i was looking through my engine bay and i saw this. i realized the the orange tube is supposed to be connected to the white thing. am i right?
the orange tube connects to the thing circld in red.

 

doesnt matter if that vaccum canister has the orange hose hooked up or not its just a drain for water vapors.

 

oh ok so its just a water vapor canister thing? haha

 

nope. the majority of people take them out heh

 

oh really? i never knew that haha. what do those three tubes (2 red, 1 black) that connect to it connect to? it looks like it goes into the firewal.

 

the red braided one hooks up to the intake manifold, one hooks up to a metal bung on the fire wall (something to do w helping the gas tank vent) and one goes to the vaccume purge sensor, located next to the map sensor on the fire wall

 

so what do you do with those hoses?
just pull them off and pull out the tank?

 

you can remove all that crap, cap off unused ports, just leave the gas tank vent that comes out of the firewall with the hose on it and just aim the hose down , the tank has to still vent

 

any pics on that? I'd love to remove that since I'm doing the whole wire tuck deal.

 

The canister and attached hoses are part of the evaporative emission control system. The canister holds charcoal that, when the engine is not running and the pressure in the fuel tank is high enough (on a hot day with a parked car, for example), absorbs fuel vapor via the hose that goes through the firewall to the fuel tank. Then when the engine is running and up to temperature, one of the hoses sends a vacuum signal to open the diaphragm valve on the top of the canister and let the fumes be sucked into the air intake.

The bottom orange-ish hose vents to atmosphere and should attach to a white elbow that mounts on the outboard passenger wall in the engine bay. It is a little hard to see in your photo, but I think what is pictured is it. The orange hose keeps the canister from collapsing when a vacuum is drawn on it and fuel vapors are being sucked into the air intake.

Supposedly this system cuts down on emissions significantly and should help fuel mileage by not wasting fuel vapor that would otherwise vent to atmosphere.

In some areas one will have a problem passing emissions with the canister absent or its associated lines and valves not operating. I imagine the system is intact in most Civics. Those aiming for some perceived improvement in hp yada might remove it.

 

^oh wow good info! my mileage has been sucking. i get like 200 miles on a full tank with my stock sohc zc. hopefully connecting it helps.

so how does removing it help with gaining hp? (maybe you mentioned it but i just didnt understand. lol)

 

I see some folks advising removing the canister so they can fit in other allegedly performance (as in speed and so hp) improving parts. But some sites on the net say a helluva lot of gas is lost through simple evaporation from the fuel tank (especially on hot days), so I would never take this system out or otherwise make it inoperable.

The shop manual has a whole procedure for testing the evap system. Mostly it is a check of the two valves in the engine compartment and the vacuum holding ability of its hoses and the canister (bottom line: evap system parts not holding vacuum=air intake vacuum leak=ecu thrown off=bad mileage and bad emissions). A hand-held vacuum pump is key for these checks and so they go quickly. Also, there is chatter on the net about making sure the canister did not also accidentally get filled with gasoline from overfilling the fuel tank or parking facing downhill. (Now I will never go beyond one click when filling up.) I was trying to get my 91 Civic to pass emissions last month and in my efforts became very acquainted with the evap system. OTOH, short of really old crusty and probably prone to leakage evap system hoses, I think it is pretty rare for this system to be the cause of bad MPG/emissions.

 

ahhhhhh. god info. someone sure knows their evap system. haha

 

so im trying to reconnect it. BUT ITS NOT GOING IN! its lubed like hell and its in an area where i cant like stretch the tube out with a screw driver or something. how do i go about reconnecting it

 

What exactly is not attaching? I found it easiest to rotate the white elbow 90 degrees or so this way and that until it came out. Disconnect the three hoses on top of the canister, and pull it out. Clean up the hose and elbow as needed. Apply a bit of liquid hand soap to the hose where it mates with the elbow. Twisting these hoses a bit as they are removed or installed can help. Re-install by trying different orders of installation. E.g. maybe push the white elbow (disconnected) into place first, then slide the hose on.

 

ya i was thinking of just taking the white elbow off. it felt like a clip on, but i didnt know what was on the other side and i didnt wanna risk breaking anything. ill try it carefully tomorow. thanks