When i bought my Xb i found the spare tire in the trunk of the Xb under all that foam and plastic coverings. So i proceeded to remove it all to see what i would get from it. I found i could gain about 12" of extra room back there just by pulling out the spare tire! Well i dont like the fact of drive away from home (some times up to 4 hours) w/o my spare. So i figured why not put it where most car manu. put it, under the rear end of the car. I saw there was enough room and i could easily mount it.. BUT... WTF is this black box in the way? Tubes and wires coming into it and such. I figured it was probly the fuel pump or what not, so i figured i'd ask you guys what it may be and ask if it is possible to relocate this "Box" so i can mount my spare under the car rather than in my trunk. Thanx for any info.

Dave

 

Fuel canister for emissions. all cars have them, and they must be mounted higher then the gas tank.
you can relocate, but I haven't spent enought time under one to see where the best place to relocate would be.

 

I've had the same thought. It really burns me that the spare uses all that room.

Japanese bB's apparently don't have spares at all, so the spare tire location is a kludge, not part of the JDM design. It would have been _so_ easy to put it underneath, but they didn't.

That black box is rather ominous, with lots of connections. Some of the connections are not flexible, so unbolting and moving it aside isn't really a possibility. There would be some non-reversable cutting and adapting involved, and without knowing the exact function of the black box (pump? charcoal canister? flux capacitor?) I really don't relish fiddling with it.

George

 

Well when I first saw that spare tire I was wondering "Why in the trunk area?" Then after looking at a few more Xbs i thought; DUHH! It's so lil miss granny who buys an Xb doesnt have to craw under the car (that has about 6" of ground clearence under the rear skirt) and thread this heave wheel down and slide it from under the car. Us americians are too "comfy" and dont want to dirt our $80 jeans to change a spare tire. Shoot probly 80% of us call AAA or something when they get a flat anyways. Anyhow i think they did that to increase the easy of getting to the spare w/o having to lift the rear skirt to accomidate it.

 

I wonder what they do in Japan with _no_ spare tire? Does their version of AAA bring a wheel with them?

 

I don't put the spare in my car unless I'm taking a road trip. The less weight the better .

 

How do you think we track our customers? :twisted:

 

you send out the MIBs

 

Oh that's evil!

 

Here's your fix. Remove the spare all together and put a can of fix a flat in there. Either that or put run flat tires on the rims.

 

I just got a flat a few days ago, I definitely need that spare-if you are thinking of removing the spare... I say do it. Maybe even strap it to the hood or something.

 

Get a roof rack, thay make an attachment so your spare can ride up there.

 

whatever you do, make sure you have the spare. ESPECIALLY if you have low pro tires. I have 215/35/18's and i thought i'd be cool, and take out the spare, but then i hit a fatty pothole, and blew the crap outta my tire, and had no spare. and, try finding a pirelli 35 series tire at 8:00 at night in la habra. NOT HAPPENING. luckily one of my friends that has an xb lived close by so i walked to his house and got his spare.

 

I think it would look cool If you had a full size spare on the back of the scion, like the old vans and such. and if you were really cool you could make a small axel to mount it on and spin it as you drive.

 

only w/ spinner hub-caps! BLING-BLING baby!

 

Aside from all the sidetracks.... I think what you wanted to know is.... That think is your charcoal canister. And it filters any fumes that are on the way to the tank vent. Ive heard removing it can throw a code in the ecu but seeing as how its on the vent side of the tank i cant see where thered be a sensor to pick up any change... Anyhow hope this helped...

-Mikey

 

well when the weather here (north Va) clears up a lil, i'm gunna throw it on a lift and check things out, if i find any new advances i'll let ppl know. Cuz i can bet that a lot more scion ppl would love to relocate that spare tire.

 

even though that stuff comes in handy. its extremly flamable. really dangerous. i mean, your cars got a gas tank attached to it, but having a can in your car that could explode if temperatures got too high would be a risk.

 

there's several things that "could" happen to a car as it is now. Are we going to prevent them all? Chances are that they will never happen.

 

Now this may be wrong or different for other makes but when on all my friends truck and on my nissan we took the canisters off and threw them in the trash, made no difference whatsoever. :D