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I doubt that it would, but have to ask............

From what I gather, the purge control solenoid does NOT effect the performance of the engine. Is this correct?

Can a bad purge valve solenoid cause a vacuum leak? Thus be the cause of a bad fluctuating idle issue I have been dealing with.

My '91 EJ22 (NA) converted VW van is throwing a code for this and I do not want to pay $90 for a part that does not effect performance. Though it sounds like it may pollute more.

Thanks for the help!

I would just get a used one and not worry about it. Yes though it can cause some issues as well as a air leak technically!

Yeah, you can get a used one. Other thing you can do is just plug fittings on the engine that go to the purge solenoid & fuel tank.

That should help eliminate any vacuum leaks, but won't get rid of the CEL.

The solenoid's vacumm pipe is meant to be coming from a port on the throttle body that is closed at idle, so it should not cause idling issues even if the solenoid was stuck open.

The port only lets fumes into the motor when you have a bit of throttle on so that you don't get too richer mixture when the motor couldn't handle the extra fumes, once there is a few revs on the fumes are insignificant and can be burnt up.

The solenoid only stops the fumes going through while the motor is cold.

The canister then, only gets the fumes sucked out when there are is a bit of throttle on And the motor is warm.

Thought I'd tack this question on instead of posting a whole new thread: Is it possible or even worth it to remove the purge control solenoid valve (even though it's kind of a pain in the ass to get to) and clean it out with brake cleaner or something, like you could with a sticky AIC valve? I agree I'm not about to spend $90 on a new one, and I'm kinda sketchy about throwing a junk yard replacement in there, but damn that CEL gets kinda annoying.

As far as I know, the solenoids don't get dirty like the IAC valves do. I'd doubt it will clean up.

You could check it electricaly as per the manula though before buying a new one. That's the recommended thing.

I was getting an occasional CEL for my purge valve, went to the local u-wrench yard and they just let me have the thing for the $2 cost of admission. Problem solved. Just get a used one.

I wouldn't get a used one. Just about all our cars had this problem, so there's a very good chance that the junkyard one is probably no better than the one you're taking out.

There is a way to wire in a resistor (don't remember how many ohms) to trick the ECU into thinking the valve is working properly, thus turning off the CEL. I think Vikash has posted such instructions on here somewhere. But that's the only way to do it without getting a new valve.

i have the same code and i have a slight stutter around 2000 rpm's i wonder if mine is stuck open causing a vacuum leak thus the stutter