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Hi guys,
2001 986 2.7 Boxster base, California car. 125,000 miles. No drivability problems noticed.
I wanted to add my experience to this thread to try to help someone out in the future. My sons car was having a few issues at the same time and that added a bit of hesitation to my diagnosis (throwing darts) of the problem. He had both bank 1 & 2 giving "Cat efficiency" codes, a P0445 Shutoff valve, activated charcoal filter and the very obvious coke bottle whistling noise at the fuel fuller flap. The cat efficiency faults were fixed by installing brand new cats after the first set of used (apparently fine) cats didn't change anything. The P0445 first got the very commonly suggested fuel tank vapor valve replaced (after blowing air through all hoses / pipes) purchased from Pelican parts. After installing this wrong and having gas spit out on me when trying to fill because i didn't place the tiny cylindrical magnet back into the correct place, i took it out again, reinstalled it and still had the noise & code. Next was the purge valve in the engine bay under the intake - no change. Next up was the charcoal cannister - i considered a used one but decided to go with pelican again and $350 later - same condition. I knew i couldn't throw this car away over a check engine light so i continued on. And before anyone says that i should be 'testing' these components before just throwing cash away... intermittent failure / passing of tests is a thing and I'm not sure what a good reading / signal / flow should look like. I decided to try a used (perfectly fine I'm told) F & G valve set pictured above and they came with hoses D & C - no change. Same result. I'm now telling myself I've replaced every component in the fuel vapor recovery system and I'm frustrated and $1000 poorer. Yes, any normal person would have taken it to a shop and allowed them to guess with my cash instead. We were coming up on a smog check and the MIL needed to be turned off and the only part that was replaced with a used one was the F & G valves - So Pelican kindly sold me 2 new ones and finally the code was cleared. My son says that he sometimes hears the coke bottle noise but i haven't heard it. I'm just happy the light is out and hasn't returned in over 500 miles,
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