Hi folks,
First post but been lurking. I was underneath the rear end of my 04 ranger (just picked up a month ago) 4x4 trying to find out why my license plate lamps weren't working. In looking around following wires I noticed what looked like a black cylinder about 6" in diameter and about 12 to 14" long mounted just in front of the spare tire. It looked like it was made of black plastic. Seemed like it had slits in it. On top of the spare tire housing was what looked like a solenoid that had an electrical connection to it. The other side of the solenoid had a hose coming out of it going to the black cylinder. What is this thing for? If you need pictures I will take some. Thanks

 

Charcoal canister to control evaporative emissions from the fuel tank.

 

i think this is correct

 

Thanks for the info