2000 Pontiac Montana solinoid clicking, what's it called?/

Tiny
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  • 2000 PONTIAC MONTANA
  • 6 CYL
  • FWD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 103,311 MILES
The part in question is located under the hood on the drivers side, behind the mass airflow sensor/wiring connections. It also has a hose coming out and going to the pcv valve on the valve cover. At first noticed it clicking randomly about 40- 50 times a minuite. Found that bracket is not bolted down, bolted unit down. Unit still clicking, mayby not as often, but close. I checked out wiring and ground, can anyone tell me what this part is called and what problems it can cause if it goes out?
Thursday, January 15th, 2009 AT 7:36 AM

16 Replies

Tiny
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Might be an Evap Purge Solenoid. Any chance of you snapping a pic? There are too many sensors/solenoids to guess what it is
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Thursday, January 15th, 2009 AT 7:50 AM
Tiny
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Your right it does have a plastic line with a needle valve type port with a light blue cap, and a tag that says --evap service port--, whats it for, what problems can it cause? Thanks for quick reply.
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Thursday, January 15th, 2009 AT 8:24 AM
Tiny
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None that Im aware of, sometimes they do that. Is the check engine light on or do you have any performance issues?
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Thursday, January 15th, 2009 AT 8:32 AM
Tiny
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I have a problem with compressor ac clutch fuse blowing, even with clutch wires disconnected, not all the time, it will go 2-3 days without, then it will blow them instantly, until I wait a day and try again. And the abs light-service traction control, message display. It comes and goes, but if I turn the key to run position and wait three seconds before starting the engine, then abs light-sevice traction control message, do not come up, and all is fine. Whats the best way to check wheel speed sensors with a voltmeter? I have read if you turn hub 1 revolution/second, it should put out at least 1Mv. Also all lights flicker at night very discretely, and seems to be in semi-close sync with clicking from solinoid. I have checked wires/grounds, alternator and new battery, and im out of ideas. I know I should go get the codes read, but if I can troubleshoot with voltmeter, and a low 17Mv test light (computer safe) I would prefer to learn how to fix myself and learn something, than pay out and learn nothing. I know this seems like a lot of problems and I understand if its too much to try to figure out over the internet, but I do appreciate any ideas or advice you can give.
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Thursday, January 15th, 2009 AT 9:16 AM
Tiny
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Reading the codes isnt keeping you from learning, it is using the on-board monitoring for what it was designed. A scan of the PCM can help figure this out without endleess hours of testing things that are unrelated. You can check the dk green/white wire from the A/C clutch relay to the PCM it is wire #39 on the PCM test it to ground adn wiggle the wiring harnesss whe you do it. That wire shorted to gound will pop the A/C clutch fuse (10 amp)
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Thursday, January 15th, 2009 AT 9:19 PM
Tiny
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Your point is well stated. I wish gm would just incorperate the the ability access and retreive codes codes into each vehicle. The cost per vehicle to do this would be almost nothing, because they already have the codes stored in the vehicle, all it would be is a way to display them. Except they would loose millions in the $89-$159 in the service of retreiving the codes for us. Thanks for the wire info, I'll check it out. If theres anything else you can think of let me know.
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Friday, January 16th, 2009 AT 7:31 AM
Tiny
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I pulled the a/c clutch relay out, which takes the a/c clutch, a/c diode and the pcm out of the equation. I also have a diagram from mitchell and its money well spent. Can I conclude that the problem is in the wiring junction box(underhood). I did try swapping out the a/c clutch relay with the ignition relay with no change(still blew). Can a problem come from (upstream)the line side of the fuse? Thanks for your input
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Tuesday, January 20th, 2009 AT 11:14 PM
Tiny
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If it was on the feed side it would pop one of the other 3 fuses fed by it. The ignition main relay feeds power to the circuit. You need to get a meter awhen it wil pop the fuse and test the wires at the a/c clutch relay for continuity to ground. Should only have one ground.
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Wednesday, January 21st, 2009 AT 11:01 AM
Tiny
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It finally started blowing fuses again and I do only have one ground. I even put a new fuse in, and for the 3-4 seconds it took for it to blow, it still was not to ground. I want to let you know that I am not even running the a/c this time of year but it is still blowing fuses. As long as the key is on, when it is in the blowing mood, it will blow, usually within 8-10 seconds. I did take the ignition main relay out, and it did not blow, reinstalled and it did blow. And like I said, with the a/c relay out it still blows. There is nothing but circuitry(no components just connections within the junction box) between the 10amp a/c fuse and the a/c relay connections. Is it in the connections of the junction box between the fuse and a/c relay or am I missing something else to check before drawing this conclusion?
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Friday, January 23rd, 2009 AT 12:01 AM
Tiny
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Does the engine need to be running for it to blow the fuse?If not try pulling the IGN-1 fuse (underhood) , inj fuse, elec ign fuse, tcc fuse. Those are all tied into the circuit
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Friday, January 23rd, 2009 AT 7:11 AM
Tiny
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It was blowing fuses, so I removed the ign-1, inj, elek, and tcc fuses. Put in a new 10 amp a/c fuse and proceeded to reinstall the removed fuses. At no point did any of the reinstalled fuses cause tha a/c fuse to blow BUT, when I installed the ign-1 uh fuse there was an obvious low pitch squeal(like an electrical drain)from around the a/c clutch. It seems like the a/c clutch circuit doesn't like the drain from the ign-1 uh circuit(the ign-1 uh circuit has the 'evaporative emissions canister purge solinoid valve'((eecpsv))that is continuosly clicking away and was the original subject of this thread. Also has 2 heated oxy sensors and the air injection sl valve and mass airflow sensor). Do you think I should replace the eecpsv or find out why it is clicking away randomly? Or do you have any other suggestions?
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Saturday, January 24th, 2009 AT 12:12 AM
Tiny
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You can try just unplugging it to see if that is the problem. It will set a check engine light, but once the problem is found you can clear that out.
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Saturday, January 24th, 2009 AT 8:23 AM
Tiny
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The clicking is not from the evap solinoid but from the throttle position sensor, which is not at all on the same circuit, so Im ruling out this as an a/c problem. But what kind of problems would a bad tps cause?
At no point did it stop blowing the a/c clutch fuse, when the ing-1, tcc, inj, or elek fuses were out. So I think its safe to say the problem is not from the feed side of the circuit. And if the fuse still blows with the a/c relay pulled out, the problem must be in the junction box or possibly with a ground connection or cut insolation. I have removed and cleaned every ground and cleaned connections with no resolve.
Even on the manual and auto a/c circuit diagrams, it shows nothing else in the ciircuit that can cause this problem. Am I wrong or am I overlooking somethig?
Thanks for your expertise.
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Sunday, January 25th, 2009 AT 10:41 PM
Tiny
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Check the power and triggers from the relay for continuity to ground. Problem is that itisnt adead short (pops fuse instantly) so testing will be difficult. I have never seen a TPS cause fuses to blow, but it can cause it to act off when throttle is applied. Reove and look inside thepower center as well to be sure there is no damage inside it
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Monday, January 26th, 2009 AT 7:16 AM
Tiny
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Can you give me a little more detail on checking power and triggers on relays? Do I take the cover off the relay to test and inspect internally while installed in the junction box, or just check continuity across the pin connections with relay removed? What do you mean by 'power center', where are you talking about, in the tps or the relay, or the junction box? Thanks! Also I noticed that only the right side cooling fan is coming on when high engine coolant temp calls for fan/s. Is this normal or are both fans suppost to come on? Could this be blowing the a/c clutch fuse?
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Wednesday, February 4th, 2009 AT 10:15 PM
Tiny
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https://www.2carpros.com/how_to/how_do_i_check_a_relay.htm
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Friday, February 6th, 2009 AT 4:55 PM

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