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Jumbo1 · 10-16-2009, 12:53 AM

I have a '97 HR Vacationer on a '96 F53 chassis with the 460 EFI engine. While doing some routine maintenance recently, I happened to notice some components that I couldn't identify. They are the size of small bricks mounted to outboard side of the right chassis rail below the alternator. They are in steel brackets mounted vertically, flat to the chassis rail. Although they look like capacitors (grey in color), they only seem to have one heavy soldered connector on top of each can. Due to the very limited access, that's about all I can see or figure out. The Ford service manuals don't mention anything even close to these, yet the mounting brackets look very F53 original....but....HR could have tagged them on along with the rest of the coachwork. I would snap a couple of pictures, but they are really buried in the plumbing and they are tough to see. Anybody else with a 460 F53 have these things installed?

Being near the alternator and appearing to be capacitors makes me think they are part of the electrical system noise suppresion stuff...but the wire is burned off of two of the units and the "other" end of those wires are lost in the oily mess under the engine.

Tinkerer · 10-24-2009, 04:07 PM

Pictures are worth a thousand words....... can you post a picture of what your looking at?

Tinkerer · 10-25-2009, 10:52 AM

OK, I had to go out to my 96 F53 to see if I could find what you were looking at. I could not see them very well either so I held my camera and clicked some pics until I could see them up close on my computer. If these are not what your seeing on yours let me know and I'll look closer on mine.
I believe these are venting canisters for the fuel system.

mechanic1 · 10-25-2009, 12:38 PM

Hello
from what i see i would have to agree those are fuel canisters

Rick Long · 10-25-2009, 12:44 PM

Part of the evaporative emissions system.. they are charcoal canisters. Those are hoses and not electrical wires.

Jumbo1 · 10-25-2009, 09:30 PM

Thanks, guys! Those are the devices I had been looking at on mine...and now the mystery has been resolved. On my chassis, the visibility is really limited in that area due to other "stuff" mounted in, over, and around the area. I can't even get a decent shot at them with a flashlight, let alone a camera. On mine, the aft most hose connection is melted and separated in such a way that it looks like some sort of high energy wire rather than a hose. Now I can focus on a way to repair the damaged connector and get the hose back in place. I'm thinking that I'll have to get the front end up in the air, remove the right front tire and start digging from there.

Thanks again to everyone that looked at my puzzle...and special thanks for the solution...!