Charcoal filter???

[Yello_jellybean]

Okay, tonight I was at a local VW gtg with some other enthusiasts, and we were talking about little stuff like disabling DRLs and euro switches and such, (ya know, stupid chit chat) when, I mentioned that I had vented my gas tank. One of the guys was like "What is that?"
So I explained to him what it was, and he got all over my case about why I shouldn't do that, because it will cause my gas tank to overflow onto my charcoal filter. First of all.... What the hell is a charcoal filter? What does it do? AND next..... Is this true?
Can I really damage this thing by venting my tank?

I figure, How does this guy EVEN know, when he didn't even know what it was? Right??
Obviously, I am not terribly concerned because these guys are not what I would consider to be good VW resources, but I have never heard of this before. Can somebody answer this for me please?

Cheat, DZLBUG, Growler... Anyone?

Thanks in advance guys.

[DZLBUG]

Well for starters, you don't have a gas tank. You have a "fuel" tank. No worries about venting. The charcoal canister (EVAP system) and all that is only relevant to sparky cars as the gasoline they run on is much more volatile than diesel fuel and the vapors need to be dealt with safely. It would be a very bad idea to vent the tank and fill it to the brim on a gasser. In addition to possible damage to the EVAP system, it could go boom.

But as I said. No worries on your diesel. Diesel cars do not have any EVAP sytem because it does not vaporize like gasoline does. TDIclub guys have been doing this for years and millions of miles combined and there has never been a problem associated with doing so.

[CoriBug]

When I saw the thread title I thought you were asking about the cabin filter. I've never heard of venting causing any damage. If it does I don't think the gurus on TDI club would endorse the idea. This guy couldn't explain to you HOW venting causes damage? He doesn't know what he's talking about.

[cep]

He's right in that saturation of charcoal filters with liquid kills their effectiveness--they're meant to trap vapors, not liquid, in evaporative control systems.

Diesel fuel does vaporize but at something like +140F whereas gas is around -70F, so no evaporative controls needed. Yet.

[Yello_jellybean]

I knew you guys would clarify this for me.

As I said, I don't consider them to be a VERY good VW resource.

Thanks All! I appreciate it.