Charcoal canister removal causes engine problem-Help
 

I took the Charcoal canister off my 72 El Camino (350) to clean up the engine compartment. There are three hoses on it. I plugged off the vac tube at the Carb base where one of them went. I took the one that was "T"d on the hose between the vac line on the base of the Carb and the PCV valve on the valve cover off. I then took the vent hose from the gas tank and plugged it into the "T" at the PCV valve.......... I drove around for a day and had no problems. Then when I went to fill up my gas tank ( it had been close to empty on the day I had no problems) as soon as I left the gas station the engine started to flutter......then it died.....like I was out of gas! After looking for problem for a while I decided to put the charcoal canister back on just to make sure that was not the cause........well it was now it runs fine. I am assuming that the hose configuration I used caused a vacuum problem in the gas tank and the gas could not get to the fuel pump. So ..........what did I do wrong with the re-hook up of the hoses? And what is the correct way to do it.......jerry

As you found out it is the vent for the gas tank...it does nothing to hurt performance...and if you don't like the looks of it just bury it somewhere you won't see it.

With a '72 El Camino, you can eliminate all of your emissions equipment. Just keep everything you take off incase the liberals get back into power and decide it is time to change the smog laws.:(

It does in fact sound like you drew a vacuum in the tank and the pump could not pull any gas.

You could just end the tank vent hose in the frame somehere and call it good, but if you ever over fill the tank, it may start running out of that hose and turn your car into a BBQ! LOL

Best bet is to use the canister.

Mark