Here is the entire system. If Hyundai had not used a foam separator in the canister, most of the problems would be solved because charcoal granules would be held in place. They are about the size of Kitty Litter. If they would have just rotated the canister 90 degrees so the ports point up, the problem would have been solved. They are over $700 at the dealers, HOWEVER there are 3 different brands available at Rockauto.com for $111 to $179 for your car. A lot of people cut the top off with a saw, and put something in its place like felt. A mechanic suggested inserting small gas filters in the lines. The filter is designed completely backwards. There are pieces of filter paper in a plastic box, and the smallest ones are what the fresh air hits first, so they clog quickly. I cut it open and replaced the paper with dacron upholstery padding. I checked, and gasoline does not dissolve it. It is working fine. I also pulled the gas tank to clean the vent line. I should have cut the floor above where the vent line connects to the tank for easy access. The Charcoal canister and everything you see in my first picture is in a black box just forward of the rear bumper an the same side as the gas filler neck. You have to remove a plastic inner fender to get to it, then remove the box. If you have charcoal in the lines, you will have to clean the lines and do something to the charcoal canister. It could also be the filter where the fresh air enters the system. Test the blower and any valves. It will take several cycles of the system to reset the check engine light. You can reset it with a diagnostic tester, but that may cause problems if you need a smog check. I'm having that problem with my Mercury Villager. The solution on the van is a new catalytic converter. Good Luck. If you have any questions, please ask.


Left is the front of the car, and right is back.

 

Just an FYI: I must have pulled 10 charcoal canisters out of cars at Pick Your Part before I found one that did not spill charcoal when I removed the hoses. BTW: What's an HD mechanic?

 

Heavy Duty lol. thanks gary, that gives me a good start. I don't have any check engine lights, and the car runs perfect, just wont take any fuel. Also, which I thought was in-related so I didn't mention before, fuel guage stopped working. I just got the car as a project, replaced head gasket, now engine wise all is good. the car sat for 6 months, so I was just driving it around over a couple weeks to use up the old fuel, fuel guage was working. when it hit low, I went to fuel it up, wont take fuel. so I pulled off some lines, dumped a jerry can full in, guage went up to 1/3. next day, went to drive it again, fuel guage sits at the bottom now. I think in-related myself. I'm gonna drop the tank I think, as I think I need to to access the sending unit anyways. under the rear seat is access to the pump, or is that a sending unit/pump combo?

 

so I think I have two problem, fuel guage and not taking fuel. so far I've pulled the charcoal canister down, separated the air filter. the air filter flows fine, but how freely should air flow through the canister? can force air through, but sure is slow..... as I have two problems, i'm gonna drop the tank, i'm sure I'm going to need to anyways at some point through both these problems

 

sorry, reading that I realize I should make the story a bit clearer. saw this car for sale, little old guy owned from new, only has 89000 kms on it. head gasket went, he parked it, he died, it sat for 6 months. I bought it from the son who knew nothing about it. car is immaculate shape. I replaced head gasket, all is now good. drove it around to use up old fuel, guage was working. went to put fuel in, wouldn't take fuel. then guage quite working, although I know it now has 1/3 tank in it. so I don't know a lot about the history of car, my guess little to no work has ever been needed or done, until head gasket. this thread is full of good diagnostic steps, but under the car I was struggling with the terminology and locations of hoses, valves, blower, motor etc etc...... in the world of heavy equipment/diesel, we don't have to worry about EVAP lol

 

The sender is on the fuel pump housing. From sitting, they can get corroded. With the distance units in km, I'm assuming that you are not in the US, so you may not have an extra problem we have. We deal with 10% alcohol in the gas here. It attracts and holds water, so it corrodes things such as the contacts on the fuel gauge sender. It also can attack plastic and rubber. The fittings on the top of the pump and sender housing was quite brittle and broke, so I bought one at a local salvage yard. BTW the fueling problem and gauge are 2 separate problems. I have an extra canister that I was going to cut open if I needed to. I tried blowing through, and the air flowed easily, and a small shower of charcoal blew out along with it, so that one is bad. If the air filter for the system, next to the carbon canister, is flowing freely, then I'm guessing that the foam separator has deteriorated on yours. This separator is just below the area of the canister where the hose fittings are, if you decide to cut it open. There are 2 baffles just below the hose fittings, and the foam is between the baffles. The canister is assembled from the bottom and the bottom is sealed. I can imagine that all this is quite foreign having worked on diesel systems.

 

yes indeed. lots of things are the same, but lots is WAY different lol...... I pulled the tank down, as I just couldn't make sense of the lines up in there, and very poor access. of course I broke a couple crappy plastic fittings etc etc, so I've ordered those. I pulled out the fill vent valve, it appears to be working. the fuel/liquid separator flows air through it fine, all the lines were fine, and the air filter and valve at the filter all flow freelt. I never actually found any charcoal, not even small bits, in any line anywhere. that's what made me doubt the canister. but with the fill vave, lines, separator and filter/valve all flowing freely, the canister is about all that's left, no? it flows through it, I guess just not enough. reading all the comments about charcoal in the lines everywhere when the canister fails made me think that's the only way it can fail, but I guess it can fail/plug without actually letting any charcoal out?

so if i'm going to cut the canister open, I cut it at the end with the hoses, 1" down from the end?

 

I looked at the one I have, and at photos of another one that I has cut apart maybe 2 years ago. I'll call the end with the connections the top. There is a pipe from the purge connector to the charcoal. If you want to avoid cutting that, cut about 2 inches below the top where the 2 hose connections are. You could cut the bottom where it is sealed. I looked at the top and bottom and there are separator plates. The bottom one has several holes drilled in it, and the top has fewer large ones. The foam separators are on these plates, facing towards the charcoal granules. My guess is that this foam is plugged or melted. Some people have removed the foam and replaced it with brass or stainless steel screen. When you cut it open, you will want to have it over something to catch the charcoal. A good epoxy should work well to assemble it. I don't think that you need to cut the top in half like I did.


Cut about 1" lower than I did.



The bottom separator with some of the foam on it.



Top separator, had foam on it. Pipe on left is below the purge hose connection on the outside. It has a piece of fabric in it

 

I would keep an eye on the air filter tube that in in the middle of the gas neck hose to the carbon filter. I have found it holds very fine carbon dust. Take it out, tap it, blow it out to hell and back, and it still can be a part that is shot, over the hill. It can bottleneck the air to and from the charcoal canister. So if the gas is spitting back out, try taking the air tube filter out and bypassing it with a small piece of copper pipe to test if gas now enters the tank freely or not. And if you do have charcoal bits in the line, then yes...the charcoal canister has to come out and be replaced or cut open and fixed. Just the charcoal canister, new, and the air tube filter, new, are retail close to $800. Some sites sell cheaper. So the up front legwork and experimentation and fixing of existing parts=savings. This fuel thing is a regular occurence every 30-40,000 mph or 48,000 k to 63,000 k. So getting a handle on all this is a money saver. Also, thanks to all who posted before and helped me help myself with this fuel problem.

 

You got it.