I have a 2005 Honda Accord EX and my check engine light came on. I had it checked at Auto Zone and the code was P0497. Anyone have any idea what this is and how much to fix it. I live in AZ and i cant pass emissons in 2 weeks without it resolved.

 

P0497 is for EVAP canister system low purge flow. the purge solenoid opens to allow the fuel vapor being stored in the charcoal canister to be burned by the engine. The code is set if you ECM does not see a drop in fuel tank pressure when the purge solenoid is opened
Possible causes:
-Defective purge solenoid
-Leak in vacuum line from canister to solenoid
-leak in vacuum line from solenoid to engine
-defective FTP (fuel tank pressure) sensor

 

Ok thanks. So im assuming any of these things will be expensive to fix?

 

Could also have a leak in the canister.

 

shouldn't be too expensive (under $200 for a solenoid of FTP sensor) just hard to diagnose if your not familiar with how the EVAP system works and dont have proper tools-smoke machine and a scanner to actuate the solenoid (would not recommend manually jumping wires to actuate solenoid unless you REALLY know what your doing)

 

My experience with a P0497 was with a '04 Civic LX which had nearly 300,000 kms on the odometer

I wrestled with this problem for over a year trying various solutions until I stumbled on a solution which worked well in solving the P0497 code problem.

What I did to fix it was ~
1) I switched from cheap discount fuel suppliers to consistently filling up at Top-Tier gas retailers.. (fuel with detergents added based on manufacturers recommendations)
2) On the advice of a mechanic friend I also changed the gas cap ($11 Canadian Tire store)

Within a few weeks of fueling up at Costco the problem was solved. I check to see if there were any lingering codes and the system was clear.

In Canada Top Tier gas retailers are: Costco, Esso, Shell, Petro-Canada and perhaps others.

Using better quality fuel seems to have solved my issues with the P0497 code. For the price of a new gas cap and alternate fuel sources I saved easily $400-800.

For more info on TOP TIER gas read up on it here - Home | Top Tier Gas

Hope that's a help to someone.

QTrader