Couple of weeks ago while driving to a holiday destination in norfolk, my engine warning light came on, great! took it to a dealer in colchester who did the diagnostics and came back saying there was a split in the evap pipe and suspected valve sticking. And that the car was fine to drive i just need to take it to a dealer at some point and get the above part (valve) for

It's a "VALVE" according to me... :confused: Time to delve a little deeper.

Right google seems to indicate its a "purge valve" - might be something to do with the fuel filter.

Beyond that, I'm struggling

bet this is the biyatch. (taken from another post with the error code in front of it from that post)

16825 - EVAP Emission Control System Incorrect Purge Flow- Probable cause - Hose Connection/s, intake leak, EVAP canister purge valve.

any ideas what the thing does? and how important it is?

Right google seems to indicate its a "purge valve" - might be something to do with the fuel filter.

yeah I have just found an interesting article for a ford scorpio all about evap valves and systems and seem to link to removing unburnt fuel vapour from the tank or something. interesting....

the purge valve vents fuel vapour from the tank through a charcoal canister into the intake system to be burnt,this is because of strict emissions laws dictating that tanks can no longer be vented to atmosphere hence the hiss when the fuel cap is removed.the engine control unit monitors this so it would be hard to get round it without carrying out the proper repair

It is the valve on top of the activated charcoal cannister.

Ooops. Better late than never. I found it here on a Russian ETKA site using Altavista. Scroll the picture right to get to the carbon cannister page. The part is common across the VAG range.

great so its not necessary except by mot/emissions law...at least I dont need to worry about driving it though with the engine light on.

Thanks for all the info though, much appreciated!