Hello And P0444

[Trevor Newsome]

Hello all,

I am a newbie to forums so please excuse me if I make a mistake. I have joined here to try and gain more information and to ask from more experienced people about an issue I am having. Sorry about the detail but I thought more would be better.

I am the proud owner of a 2005 blue StreetKa soft top 1.6 Duratec to which I am trying to restore to a good condition, for all that have never driven one, its basically a grown mans go cart and really fun to drive. I have had the car nearly a year and everything has been running sweet until a few weeks ago.

I have started getting a P0444 Evaporative Emission Control System Purge Control Valve Circuit error when I link up my ELM327 diagnostics kit up. I have tried resetting this numerous times and it will keep coming on about every 2-3 ignition cycles.

Although I am a novice to car mechanics I have read all about the EVAP systems so I am pretty sure I know how they work. I started with the obvious and located and replaced my Purge valve located on the bulkhead behind the brake servo; twice thanks to my locale scrap yard.

I have removed the pipe from the purge valve and engine and cleaned it out.

I have checked the petrol cap and the tank does get pressurised as I hear a hiss of air when I release the petrol cap after the cars been running.

This is where I come to a dead end as there seems to be very little knowledge or documentation about where items are located or how to fix. I have checked official Ford manuals and repair manuals and even been to my local garage but the EVAP seems to be an unknown.

I think I have found the carbon filter box which is on the right hand side back of the petrol tank on drivers side and one pipe disappears towards the front end of the car which I assume goes to the Purge value. I see a small what I assume is a pressure value (Not pressure sensor as I don't think there is one due to cant find it and also there is no pressure value when connected to car using diagnostics) from the carbon unit and then it disappears.

Now whether it is coincidence or just now that I am aware of an issue I did smell petrol a few days ago when I was in the car so I think that maybe it is the air intake solenoid that is open circuit and possibly stuck open which means the petrol smell could be the vapours escaping from the carbon box.

Is there anyone with a little more knowledge, maybe have had this problem and solved or just a boffin that can help me.

Thank you

Trevor