I’m trying to sell my 1996 Rav4 on craigslist, and I had a guy take a look at it yesterday. He opened up the hood and noticed that there was a curved paperclip stuck into two contacts of what looked like a small fusebox in the hood. He took one look at it and told me he wasn’t interested. I have never seen this before in my life, and I didn’t know what it was, or why it was there, but I was inclined to agree with him on that. Clearly paperclips should not be used as fuses.
Later, I took another look at it. The box is about two inches long and a bit less than an inch wide with about 15-20 female electrical contacts in it, but it’s not a fuse box. The top says “diagnostics”, and the inside cover is labeled with some short abbreviations. I didn’t recognize all of them, but I gather that it’s for engine diagnostics. The box is just above what I think is either the starter or the alternator (clearly a dynamo of some sort).
The paperclip is the only thing in the box. None of the other contacts have anything connected to them. I almost took it out, but I decided to leave it alone until I understood what was going on. I can take and post pictures if that will help, but probably not until tomorrow morning. Could something like that override an emissions control device? Why stick a paperclip there?
Take it out. Those terminals are used for various test procedures, but should not be jumpered for normal driving. For example, connecting two specific terminals puts the electronic control system into the proper mode to check the ignition timing. While it will obviously run while in that timing-check mode, the system won’t properly vary the timing as needed for different conditions.
Because of the small size of the terminals, a paperclip is often the most practical jumper wire. Almost certainly someone forgot to remove it after doing some check.
I guess it’s possible the paperclip is a bypass for some engine performance problem, but I would be surprised if that were so as I have never heard of it in over 30 years of fixing cars professionally. The only reason I even entertain this notion is that the prospective buyer acted as if he knew it was a sign of bad news. I think it’s more likely he didn’t have a clue, but I don’t know every detail of every car.
If by chance it runs crappy with the paperclip removed, you could reinstall it (note carefully which terminals were connected before removal) and hope the next person doesn’t notice. Or better yet, get it fixed.
I’m guessing that it was put in when I got it smogged a few weeks ago, and I never noticed it. I certainly don’t think that the potential buyer had good reason to suspect something bad, because he thought it was a fuse box. But there was a bit of a language barrier between us, so I’m not 100% sure.
I’ll try removing it when I get home today and see how it goes.
I’ll bet that when you remove the paper clip you get a ‘check engine’ light. Someone put it there to keep the light off.
Sounds to me like you are describing an OBD data port. (On Board Diagnostics port, all cars have them since '85). If you get a check engine or service soon light after removing the paper clip then have someone plug a scan tool in the port to read the code.
Probably something simple and the previous owner just did the paper clip jump to keep the light off. But if you continue to try to sell the car with that clip in there, you may be accused of fraud. I know if I found something like that in a car I bought I would be all over you for concealment of defect.
Just remove the clip, read the code, and then decide whether to sell the car as is or fix the problem.
Yeah, I agree that it looked really fishy, and I don’t fault the guy at all for walking away.
But… I’ve owned this car for over 3 years. I’ve had it serviced by a mechanic 4 or 5 times (at least once when the check engine light came on, so they must have read the code), gotten it smogged twice (once just a month or so ago), so I really doubt that it’s been in there since I bought it. And I didn’t put it in there.
That only leaves a mechanic/smog technician leaving it in there. I can’t imagine they’d do it on purpose when they had the option to have me pay them to make repairs, so by accident seems like the most likely explanation.
Well, it clearly doesn’t belong in there. So see what happens when it is removed, might be nothing. A lot of times the SES or service engine soon light can come on and not really affect the performance of the engine. Usually these are related to smog control if the car is stiill running without obvious problems.
I would really doubt that the car will run any different. But people will not buy a car with an engine light on, and that is what the clip must be preventing. I also doubt that the smog guy put it in there, it is not in his best interest to help you cheat the test.
You can always put the clip back in. Let us know what happens.
Can’t say I know for sure that’s impossible, but I seriously doubt it.
Yes, it is the (remnant of the) data port that was used prior to OBD II. However, it not used for that on this vehicle - it’s an OBD II system with the standard port in the passenger compartment (this one under the hood has a different pre-standardization Toyota-only configuration).
I agree he wouldn’t put it in there on purpose for that reason. However, it is actually quite likely that he put it in for testing purposes and then forgot to remove it.
An AA man (UK equivalent of Triple A) once used a paperclip to bypass a cooling fan relay in my brother’s stranded Peugeot 106, as the relay had failed and the car was overheating. It effectively kept the fan circuit in the “open” position and stayed in place long enough for us to drive to the nearest dealer, where the relay was replaced in about thirty seconds.
Note that if he didn’t put it in there, it must have been in there prior to him running the test. If such a clip could prevent a warning light, he wouldn’t be doing a very good job to pass the car with it in place.