[san rensho]

I was having a fairly common problem. The car was hard to start once it was hot and l left it resting for about 1/2 hr to an hr. When fueling, the gas would shut off well before the car was full, sometimes turning the fuel nozzle upside down helped, but not always. And then, to start the car after fueling sometimes took over a minute of cranking with the throttle partially open before it caught.

There are all sorts of posts on how to correct the hot hard start problem and its clearly something in the evap system, but there are several very expensive solenoid valves, carbon canisters etc. and I read posts about people spending thousands and not solving the problem.

When I hooked it up to the durametric, I noticed that the fuel trims were at the rich limit and the MAF was reading way below spec, classic case of a vacuum leak. So at the throttle body, I pinched off the hose that comes from the evap system and magically, the fuel trims went back down towards normal, MAF was reading correctly and no more hard start when hot.

So I confirmed it was the evap system but I still hadn't figured out which component it was. Online searches revealed that some said it was the purge valve, a solenoid under the front fender, or the fuel vent valve attached to the gas fill tube or the tank vent valve under the right hand intake manifold. So I dug into the evap sytem under the fender and was able to apply voltage directly to the purge valve and it worked fine, fuel vent valve also seemed to be clear so I took a chance on the vent valve ( $130 at the dealer) under the manifold and viola-all is fixed. No more hot hard start. And when I filled up the tank, it filled completely and then the car started immediately.

I like my car again.