Introduced in 1981, the Cavalier was definitely the right car for the right time in America. At its peak in 1986, the Cavalier was selling at the rate of more than 430,000 a year; sales slowly trickled down to about a quarter of that until the car's complete redesign in 1995. By 1997, the Cavlier with its new chassis had once again skyrocketed to GM's number-one seller.
The term "EVAP" is short for "evaporative emissions." It's the system that keeps gasoline from evaporating out of the tank and into the atmosphere. Most often, when you see the EVAP code P0440, it means that the gas cap is loose or its sealing ring is leaking. However, it can also mean that the charcoal canister under the hood is saturated with fuel and not working, that one of the lines are loose, or that the purge solenoid isn't functioning. The computer diagnoses the EVAP system by checking to see if the fuel system will hold a vacuum when the fuel level is from 15 to 85 percent full. In many cases, you won't notice any real driveability problems. However, an EVAP system failure or saturated charcoal canister can also throw the multiple cylinder misfire code P0300. Other codes indicating an EVAP failure include P0107 and P0108, P0112 and P0113, P0117 and P0118, P0122 and P0123, P0125, P01452 and P0453.
