Situation: Wife got this car last month and 2 weeks later the SES light came on. I had the code pulled and it's P1446 evap canister closed. We live in AZ and the commute to work includes a 10 mile dirt/gravel road. I took it to the dealer last week and they put a new evap valve and filter kit for free as a one time goodwill deal. Next time it'll cost around $400 they said. Got it back, drove it to work, and the following day the SES light came on again. I think the filter kit is clogged up.

My question now is: What other things should I look at concerning the evap system? I've read that folks have had the filter moved to the engine bay and a 12 ft hose going from that to the evap valve. Will this help my Path from getting clogged up? Living in a hot and dusty area, I'd like to make this as dust proof as possible. Also, there's some nice dirt roads I'd like to take this off roading to and I don't want to cause any damage by not prepping adequately. Any advice and help is appreciated.

Welcome to the forum
i don't think it's possible for the new filter kit to be clogged with dust in such a short period of time
maybe the canister itself is the problem or, perhaps the evap valve & filter might not be installed properly
'05-'07 pathfinders did have evap vent control problems
there is a service bulletin on the issue (bulletin #NTB07-060a)
there is also an older bulletin for 1998 & later models (i'm not sure if it pertains to 2005 or not) that pertains to diagnosis of evap leak DTC. (it is bulletin # NTB09-020a)
BTW: are you aware of the radiator related transmission failure issue?

Thanks for the welcome eieio. I've seen that service bulletin from my lurking here. You might be right about the canister and I'll have that checked out. It's possible that some of the gravel or a rock may have hit it and there's a crack. I'm aware of the trans issue. That's what brought me to this forum. I read the entire thread on it and I took your advice as well as the other members here and did a bypass right away. Now I'm researching the evap issue and I'd like to get this sorted out.

I have a hose running from the filter to the engine compartment. I work on pipelines and on dirt roads everyday and the air filter draws its air from inside the frame which is a joke. I had replaced my canister 3 times within 40000 miles from being filled with dirt and dust. I did the relocation about 20000 miles ago and haven't had and codes or issues since. I highly recommend it if your driving on dirt roads or sand all the time.

Thanks for the advice 05pathyse. Is it hard to run a hose to the engine compartment? I'm definitely gonna check out the canister and see about running a hose to the engine bay. Did you do anything else to prep your Path for driving down dirt roads? You ran a hose to the engine bay and I read someone else moving the filter kit in the engine bay with a hose running to the valve. Seems like either way is the way to go.

TwinStar wrote:Thanks for the advice 05pathyse. Is it hard to run a hose to the engine compartment? I'm definitely gonna check out the canister and see about running a hose to the engine bay. Did you do anything else to prep your Path for driving down dirt roads? You ran a hose to the engine bay and I read someone else moving the filter kit in the engine bay with a hose running to the valve. Seems like either way is the way to go.

I just left the filter kit mounted to the frame and just replaced the hose that mounts into the frame and ran it down the frame and its mounted to the fire wall behind the brake booster with a breather filter on the end of it. I also wrapped the canister with rubber to protect from rocks. Only other things are full skid plates i highly recommend the factory cheap metal is junk!

Thanks for the help. I'll look for parts and take care of it when I'm free. Looks like it's easy enough to do on a weekend.