Hello everyone. I'm obviously new to the forum.

I purchased a 2000 s80 w/ 120k on the clock about a yr ago. Since early on, I've had a hesitation issue where at times, the car and rpms will not respond to the throttle. No noise, just bogs /hesitates for a while.

As of 3 weeks ago, the cel light has repeatedly come on reading P0442 (small evap emission leak). Checked all the hoses as best as I could. J hose seems ok but it's difficult to see.
Airbox lid doesn't seal on one side (inch gap) and I covered the gap with tape for now. It's been like that since day 1 though.

I sprayed the maf with tb cleaner (i know, i know, i just didn't have maf cleaner). The car responded immediately with a lot more power and no hesitation issues. It comes back after 20-40 miles though and loses that newly gained /released power.
Only other strange thing is that the engine noise changes ever so slightly the second I clear the code.

No other symptoms, noise, rpms steady, etc. Hoping it's the maf (no tools to test it) and not the cat as I could grab one at the junkyard. I ordered the security torx bits so I can clean it with maf cleaner. I just figured it would be a different cel code.

Any ideas? Sorry for the long post, I just wanted to provide as much info as possible.

 

Try checking the purge valve and gas cap seal too...? (just a guess )

 

Forgot to mention that I replaced the cap with one from Pepboys. Also, car is non turbo.
I'll have to look into where and how to check the purge valve.

I guess my real question is whether the MAF could cause such symptoms and a P0442 cel code or am I dealing with two separate issues?