Where did the port go?

OK,,,,,,,,So the girlfriend and her Riv.   Which is easier to figure out?  
    Since she has owned the car, everything is pretty normal with it.  She loves it and all the features. (complains about the size when she has to park it)  But,,,the way she drives, she needs all the iron around her that's
available.  A few months ago, I took my life in my hands and went on a short road trip with her.  The car runs fine, and as we are accelerating out of a small town, I notice a slight shudder, and the CES lights up, along with the security light.  Car continues running fine, and no more shudders.  CES stays on for a while and then shuts down.  In the course of a 50 mile round trip, the CES came on about 6 times,,stays on for a few minutes and then shuts off.
    I tell her that the next time she is by O Reilly's to stop in and see Mark, and ask him to scan it for a code.  She comes back and tells me that Mark wasn't there, of course and the people that were there couldn't find the right code reader to check the car.  No surprise.  I call Mark, he's sorry.  The next time she is in the area, have her stop by.  She stops by, and according to her,,,,(blonde)  Mark couldn't find the right adapter.  I start reading here on the forum about the transition to OBD II in 95, with and OBDI port, so I get on the net, and purchase all the cables and such to check the card.  Yesterday, we have sunny weather, so I go out in the street and check the Card reader port,,,,,,it is gone.  Someone has removed the narrow panel on the bottom of the dash, and because the port is attached to this panel, it's gone too.  Here is what is dangling down above the brake pedal....... What do I do?  Try to find the panel and the port in a wrecking yard?  Maybe bring it up to an OBDII port?

That just looks like a standard 30 Amp automotive type relay to me, could be for something else. I would try to find the OBD port, I'm thinking it is there just out of sight tied up somewhere?

LARRY70GS wrote:

That just looks like a standard 30 Amp automotive type relay to me, could be for something else.  I would try to find the OBD port, I'm thinking it is there just out of sight tied up somewhere?

Well Larry, I have looked for the port. Thought maybe the hack that did this had tie wrapped it up under the dash somewhere. There is a Molex plug dangling down there behind the relay, and I think that it is supposed to connect to the card port. Thinking like him, I've come to the conclusion that he removed it, trying to find a way to use his code reader, jury rigged to the car. The guy that she bought the car from told her that for the past 15 years, the only person to work on the car is the mechanic here in town. He is well known, and has a good reputation, as a general mechanic. After my GF purchased the Riv., I was under the hood and noticed that the supercharger shroud was missing. Because this is a small community, I called the seller and asked about the part. He told me that the mechanic had it at his shop. I went there, and asked about it, and after digging around for a few minutes, he brought it out to me.
So, when I went there and asked him about this piece under the dash that was missing, his response was if we removed it, we would have put it back on. I asked him about the SC shroud that I had to come get from him. I got a dumb look, and no response.

About getting that part, might want to contact a wrecker. One many list members buy from is Ed Morad, moradpartscompany.com -- I don't know how many Rivieras he's dismantled lately but he & his staff have done many. You might have to paint the panel to match your interior BUT tha'ts easy, a paint shop in your region can make up a spray can of the right interior color; you might want a red primer to go under that, ask them about what to use.

Yikes! not a great thing to see
curious what's taped up to the relay.. a little switch? That with the molex connector makes me more think some remote start/security thing. There's really no reason I can think to cut off the standard OBD connector and replace it with something else ever.
Anyway did you really dig up in there for that DLC. It can get pushed out of its place on the panel and go up in there. I'd take that panel off and get a better view of everything.

turtleman wrote:

Yikes! not a great thing to see
curious what's taped up to the relay.. a little switch? That with the molex connector makes me more think some remote start/security thing. There's really no reason I can think to cut off the standard OBD connector and replace it with something else ever.
Anyway did you really dig up in there for that DLC. It can get pushed out of its place on the panel and go up in there. I'd take that panel off and get a better view of everything.

I would expect the DLC to be to the left and way above the plane of the (missing) knee panel. So what I wrote earlier probably could be safely ignored until you poke around up there to find the panel.

Those spade connectors on that red thing wouldn't be standard to the Riv. When you read other parts of this forum, you might conclude that Rivs don't respond well to wiring modifications.

The Riv in question, IIRC, used an OBD II connector but had an OBD I system.

I'm thinking if someone cut the DLC off, the check engine light would be on all the time.

Thanks guys for all of the suggestions. As I'm old and have a leg brace that makes it a major task to stuff my body in the floorboards, I'll endeavor to find out if the socket is shoved up in there.

slugranch wrote:

Thanks guys for all of the suggestions.  As I'm old and have a leg brace that makes it a major task to stuff my body in the floorboards, I'll endeavor to find out if the socket is shoved up in there.

Don't bother stuuufffing your body in, just get a flashlight and borrow the GFs make up mirror, or one of her compacts with a mirror; point the flashlight up at the wires and tilt the mirror to have a look around.

I've got a bunch of inspection mirrors, even one that if you look at the image of a tag, it actually reads the numbers frontwards instead of a mirror image. It never dawned on me that someone would have stuffed the port up in there.(and probably tie wrapped it up in there) I noticed that he was crimp connector and tie wrap happy, so I'll give it a look. Thanks so much for all the help.

slugranch wrote:

    I've got a bunch of inspection mirrors, even one that if you look at the image of a tag, it actually reads the numbers frontwards instead of a mirror image.  It never dawned on me that someone would have stuffed the port up in there.(and probably tie wrapped it up in there)  I noticed that he was crimp connector and tie wrap happy, so I'll give it a look.  Thanks so much for all the help.

Yeah the tiewrap would keep the DLC from rattling or dangling, thus reducing customer callbacks. What bugs me is the knee panel is missing, the car is a little quieter with it in place.

Well, I just learned what they call that panel. At least now, I won't sound so dumb when I'm trying to explain what the panel is. Knee Panel huh? Good to know. The thing about the noise is good to know also.

slugranch wrote:

Well, I just learned what they call that panel.  At least now, I won't sound so dumb when I'm trying to explain what the panel is.  Knee Panel huh?  Good to know.  The thing about the noise is good to know also.

if you call it a knee panel, an experienced GM parts counter person will figure out what you're talking about. I think it has a different name actually.

Actually, was told by our local parts man that the exact terminology is it's a Knee Bolster. After inspecting it further, what I think happened is the local mechanic didn't have the proper datalink adapter cable, so he removed the port and clipped on those female spade connectors, and then somehow jury rigged an adapter to try and get a readout of the datalink. He removed the Knee bolster to have more room to connect it up, and just forgot to put it back. Now I need to find a datalink port at a wrecking yard, and then connect it back up to the existing wiring to be able to read the existing codes. Anyone have a wiring diagram for the wiring to the port?

slugranch wrote:

Actually, was told by our local parts man that the exact terminology is it's a Knee Bolster.  After inspecting it further, what I think happened is the local mechanic didn't have the proper datalink adapter cable, so he removed the port and clipped on those female spade connectors, and then somehow jury rigged an adapter to try and get a readout of the datalink.  He removed the Knee bolster to have more room to connect it up, and just forgot to put it back.  Now I need to find a datalink port at a wrecking yard, and then connect it back up to the existing wiring to be able to read the existing codes.  Anyone have a wiring diagram for the wiring to the port?

Sounds like [1] time to get you a factory service manual for the 95, it will have the wiring info you need [2] you might luck up on a Tech I (not Tech II) they come up cheap on eBay sometimes and will work with many other cars of around that era not just the Riv [3] You might want to call or visit junkyards to get the datalink connector from just about any of the BOP cars of that era (leave yourself a relatively long pigtail), or get it as a repair harness part off eBay or some such. I know the OBD II connectors are available as repair parts from less than $10.-

Jump on this,

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1995-GMC-Oldsmobile-Aurora-Buick-Riviera-Service-Shop-Manual-2-Vol-Set/122810613963?hash=item1c981540cb:g:pGoAAOSwUYNaDG3X&vxp=mtr

slugranch wrote:

Actually, was told by our local parts man that the exact terminology is it's a Knee Bolster.  After inspecting it further, what I think happened is the local mechanic didn't have the proper datalink adapter cable, so he removed the port and clipped on those female spade connectors, and then somehow jury rigged an adapter to try and get a readout of the datalink.  He removed the Knee bolster to have more room to connect it up, and just forgot to put it back.  Now I need to find a datalink port at a wrecking yard, and then connect it back up to the existing wiring to be able to read the existing codes.  Anyone have a wiring diagram for the wiring to the port?

One other thing - those datalink adapter cables are now really cheap, less than $20. To make future repairs easier, you miht want to use the factory manual to rewire that thing to spec and pick up an adapter cable off eBay.