Is It Safe To Drive My BMW If It Has An EVAP Leak?
Yes, you are still safe to drive. The EVAP (Evaporated Emission Control System) is used to prevent gasoline vapors from escaping into the air from the fuel tank system to control greenhouse emissions.
Is An EVAP Leak Harmful?
When you have a leak in your EVAP system it will cause a check engine light to come on, but will not immediately affect your drivability. While you drive around, however, you are letting harmful fuel vapors escape into the atmosphere and adding to the greenhouse effect that is linked to global warming.
Causes Of EVAP Leaks
There are several things that can cause an EVAP Leak:
- A bad seal on the gas cap - By not being be tightened properly and /or the gas cap itself not sealing.
- A bad or saturated charcoal canister - The canister gets saturated by over-gassing and allowing the gas to run down into the charcoal canister, damaging it.
- There are also two purge solenoids. One is in the engine compartment, and the other is usually connected close to the charcoal canister at the rear of the vehicle. They control when the gas vapors are released back into the motor to be burned, and when one goes bad they either can be stuck open or closed and when stuck open, it allows a constant vacuum to run.
All of these will cause a check engine light to come on and all of them are apart of the EVAP system. This can be a very complicated diagnosis so be sure to bring your BMW into our shop to fix the issue as soon as you can.
The Dangers Of Not Fixing The Problem Sooner
Many people consider the EVAP system to not be an immediate problem, and so will put off taking care of it until they absolutely have to, or until something else goes wrong. Leaving the check engine light on and just ignoring it. The problem is, by leaving the check engine light to stay on could mean much bigger problems could arise that you don't know about because you've grown immune to your check engine light that is now always on. Driving about unaware of any added problems because of it.