Code P0441

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Last Wednesday I had an emissions code P0441 come up on my Dakota. It means slow or minor evaporative emissions leak detected. I found a hose coming from the Leak Detection Pump at the test port that was split badly at the end. I cut the end off, still had enough slack to reattach the hose to the test port. I had the code cleared at Advance.

Today the code came back. I checked the evap canister and all the hoses, and the hoses at the LDP and purge solenoid (on my truck they are a single unit). I couldn't find any cracks or problems with the hoses, so I figured I would start with the easiest and cheapest thing first and bought a new gas cap at Advance and had them clear the code again. I figured a 10 year old gas cap that gets used at least once a week needs replaced anyway.

If anyone has any more ideas I would appreciate the help. I hope I don't have to pay for a smoke test at the dealership....
 
If you can just have a shop test your old gas cap with a smog machine. If it passes then you know it wasent it. Honestly instead of replaced a bunch of things trying to figure out the problem. Just have a shop run a diagnostic, let them tell you exactly what's going on and if the repair is within you mechanical abilities do it yourself? a diagnostic should include a smoke test if needed which I doubt
 
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If I can't find anything obvious then I may have to get a shop to test it for me. There's a good one near my house that I can trust not to rip me off, but I'd rather not pay for it of I can find the problem on my own. When I have more time and more daylight I will look over the emissions hoses and see if I missed anything.
 
Yeah I am hoping the new cap I bought will take care of it. It sure felt like it made a tighter seal when I put it on. It's a Stant brand so I would think it would be a good quality cap and work OK.

Thanks for the help on this.
 
My Father-In_Law has a 2003 Dakota. CEL was showing the small leak in EVAP system. I did all the stuff you have done. I even changed the Leak Detection Pump and Gas Cap by advice from a mechanic friend, The LDP, that is. Cleared all codes and proceeded to think all was good. 4 or 5 days later, CEL back on. Took it by my friends shop, He laughed. He told me if I would have told him I had replaced the gas cap with an aftermarket one, he would have said that the cap was STILL the problem. For some reason, Dodge vehicles do not like aftermarket caps. I went and bought a OEM from the dealer ($18) and all has been good since.
 
Dodges of this era are very prone to having the evap lines crack. Inspect the hoses that are about 1/2" in diameter near and around the battery. If you see cracks around the ends of the hoses they may be leaking. A smoke checker is an easy way to do this but the machine is about $1000 so only a shop would have one.
 
Thanks for the help here. So far so good today, CEL is still off. I had a wreck on March 29th and it did about $4000 in damage to the front end. It also broke the battery tray somehow. The LDP is mounted under the battery tray. Truck has to go back to the body shop hopefully this week for them to replace the front grille. (That is another story in itself.) When it goes back to the body shop I will see if they have a smoke machine, maybe they can check it for me. Or maybe they can just replace the LDP. If this CEL is related to the damage from the accident, then I would think it would become part of the claim. The at-fault driver had Allstate and I already told their adjuster about the CEL and the grille problem too. He said he had given the body shop authorization to "fix the triuck, make it right and have me as a satisfied customer" and the body shop manager would be calling me about it. But that was last week and I still haven't heard back from the body shop. I have waited until todaym thinking they may have needed time to order a new grille for my truck. I will be calling the body shop again today.
 
CEL came back on yesterday after installing a new gas cap and clearing the code again. Same P0441 code. Last night I went over all the emissions hoses under the hood and at the gas tank very carefully. In the process I unplugged the power distribution center to get a better look at the hoses going to the leak detection pump. I found no cracked or broken hoses anywhere. I also learned that if the gas cap were bad, I would probably have code P0442. So I am getting a refund on the gas cap.

When I buttoned everything back up last night, guess what--the CEL was off. I figure that is due to disconnecting the power distribution center.

I think that since the accident was a hard enough hit to break the battery tray, it probably broke the LDP too, it is mounted under the bottom side of the battery tray. A new LDP is $129.00 from the Dodge dealer. I don't want to spend $129.00 and have the new LDP not fix the problem, so I got one for $20.00 today from a "cash for clunkers" truck at a local junk yard. When the yard got the donor truck it was running, so I figure the used LDP is still in good shape.

I will try this used LDP tomorrow and drive the truck and see if the code comes back. It has taken a few days each time for the code to reappear, or maybe I could see if AAP will scan for pending codes.

Any other info or help is greatly appreciated.
 
Remember this before buying stuff from junk yards. Junk yards only sell one thing . . . junk. If that LDP you bought is bad for some reason you may end up confusing yourself if the original wasn't actually bad.
 
Originally Posted By: Scott_Tucker
Remember this before buying stuff from junk yards. Junk yards only sell one thing . . . junk. If that LDP you bought is bad for some reason you may end up confusing yourself if the original wasn't actually bad.


Just because it's out of a junkyard doesn't make it bad. I've bought tons of stuff from junkyards and it has saved me a ton of cash. I'm sure the last console i got at the junkyard last time was bad and it was my imagination that it was better than the one i replaced, thanks for great piece of wisdom
 
I installed the new (used) LDP today and while I was at it I replaced all the emissions hoses under the hood, plus I replaced 2 right angle hose pieces that attach the emissions hoses to my purge solenoid. The only one I didn't replace was a large, formed hose that goes from the LDP to the hard plastic hose that leads back to the evap canister by the gas tank. That's a dealer part only. Mine looks to be in great shape with no obvious cracks or deterioration so I left it alone.

I did a hard reset on my PCM while I had the battery out of the truck. The LDP mounts to the bottom back side of the battery tray. I will have to drive the truck a few days now and see if the code comes back.

Thanks for all the help here.
 
I'm going out on a limb here, hoping I don't jinx myself. But it has been a week now and I have driven about 450 miles since I replaced the emissions hoses and installed the cash for clunkers LDP, and the CEL still has not come back on yet.

So either I was right about the LDP being damaged in the accident, or I had minor cracks and splits in the emissions hoses under the hood causing the P0441 small evap leak code, or maybe it was both.

I'm just glad the CEL is out and it only cost me about $30.00 total to fix it. I have heard that P0441 can be hard code to get rid of.
 
Not sure what year your Dakota is, but I have a 2001 with a 3.9. I had the same P0441 code and found cracked hoses under the hood by the battery and under the truck near the fuel tank. Replaced those hoses and no CEL since last summer.
 
It's a 2001 and I also have the 3.9. It's a 5-speed manual with 127,500 miles on it. I have not had the CEL come back yet either -knock on wood- since I replaced the LDP and emmissions hoses under the hood, and that was 10 days and 450 miles ago. The hoses back at the evap canister and gas tank still all look to be in good shape.
 
Went on a round trip to Atlanta for my daughter's graduation last weekend. About 950 miles, numerous start cycles and the CEL is still out so hopefully I nailed it with that used LDP and new emissions hoses.
 
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