Popping the thread cherry

So where to start, the top I guess...

I take my truck into a mechanic my father has used in the past. The "service engine soon" light is on and the truck is new to me so I wanted to have him give a good once over and also to make sure that its not the speed sensor code, po500 I believe, being that I was told by the transmission guy who re manned my tranny to watch out for it because it would affect the tranny adversely. I come back the next day to pick up my truck and the mechanic hands me my bill for $50. I asked what was wrong, he said it was the fuel evap code po445, I said Ok so its fixed? He said yes, gas cap was probably loose so I tightened it and turned off the service engine soon light for you. I asked so how did the truck look, he said it looks like a great truck, all you have to do now is drive it. If the light comes back on, bring it back by.

At this point I'm thinking Ok, that was a silly mistake on my part, the gas cap is a pain sometimes but at least it wasn't po500.

About 5 or so days later light comes back on. I realize my $50 mistake and take it to auto zone for a free code check. Sure enough po445. I've stated reading a lot of this forum since then and found many other possible diognosis for this code. Most common being the purge valve.

Now I'm not quite sure where my purge valve is but after looking under the hood today I think I found it... DANGLING freely next to the air filter. I've researched it a bit but it doesn't look much like the ones in pictures and videos I've seen but it does look like a purge valve.

Where the pointing finger comes into play is that before I took the truck in my father in law and I were looking under the hood and there were no dangling parts before I took it in..

Is it possible the mechanic forgot to put it back together after checking the most common reason for po445 or is this some way to get me to come back and spend more money?

Even weirder is if this dangling part is the purge valve and the black metal cylinder next to it that it magically fits into, where is the hose that attaches to the other end? Can't find it anywhere, almost looks cut with a knife?

I'm sorry this was so long, but there's many factors here and I guess I don't know who to trust at this point. If anyone could help I would greatly appreciate it!

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=purg...z_CVNfPg_QM%3A

This is what I found dangling by a wire. The part where the hose goes must have been cut I can't find it anywhere and about an inch or so of the hose is left around the opening

 

Kinda sounds like a shade tree mechanic hack on your purge valve. I think I'd reconsider using that guy again. Especially if you're sure that nothing was dangling before you took the truck to him.

 

I am 99.9 % sure. My father in law is not the type to let you figure things out on your own. If something wrong he will notice and he will tell you. Not limited to engines either and I looked under there before I took it to the mechanic and I never noticed it. Still wondering where the hose is that it attaches to though. Thanks for the reply

 

I only wish that I knew more about it myself so that I could point you in the right direction.

 

Went by auto zone today, found out that dangling part is a canister pressure valve not a purge valve. He agreed the hose looks cut. He suggested following the hose all the way from the gas tank to engine. Its dark now I'll have to do it tomorrow. Thanks for responding though.

 

That's interesting. Let us know what you figure out.

 

After looking around near the gas tank I'm pretty sure I've found where the hose goes into the gas tank following it away from the tank i see it intersects to another hose/"Y" adaptor and then i lose it because it runs along side the chassis and i can't see it or feel it.

 

New news! I went by Ford to see if I could get a digram of the charcoal canister, canister pressure valve and hose. I had one of the service managers come take a look at it with me. He said that the canister Pressure valve does NOT have a hose coming off it because that's where the fumes are released "clean" back into the environment. So I asked about the piece of rubber hose attached to the dangling pressure valve and he suggested may be someone had put that on their to protect the opening. This makes no sense to me but it still doesn't answer the question of who left it dangling. either way still have an emissions code coming up and I'm at square one again.