95 Riviera Problems

Hello everyone, just found this forum and have a few questions about my 95 Riviera.

1. If the idles in gear for approximately 5 minutes during a long wait the check engine light comes on and traction control off lights up. This happens at about 200 coolant temp about the same time the fans should be coming on. After shutdown and restart lights are off and everything works like normal. Sorry, I don't have any codes. Since this car is OBD I with a OBD II plug I haven't been able to find out the codes. Any ideas would be appreciated.

2. Car has the non supercharged series II 3800. Replaced lower intake gaskets and upper intake plenum about 10k miles ago. Problem ever since I have owned the car (since 82K) it has used about 1 quart of oil per 1500 miles. When the plenum was changed there was alot of oil in the intake indicating blow by in the PVC system. Is this just normal for the newer 3800's or was this car abused by previous owners resulting in piston ring wear. Other than what is noted hare the car runs great.

Btw, I used to have a 87 series I 3.8 in a Lesabre with 315K that didn't use any oil between 5000 mile oil changes, all highway miles though.

Thanks, Mike

Welcome to AF. You need the code here or guess work is in the future. If no leaks and the proper pcv valve and seals are in place, the oil consumption is what it is, no way to really pinpoint the cause without expensive diagnostics.

its not normal for the rivs to burn oil. and as maxwedge stated we need codes, but im guessing its your CKP( P0336 crankshaft position sensor). replacing it usually fixes the problem.
btw the fans should turn on at 220*, 200 at idle is fine since the stock t-stat is 190* iirc.(you should swap out to a 180* t-stat)

Thanks for the replies,

As for getting the codes, I've made a trip to autozone and they were unable to hook up or the guy didn't know what he was doing. :banghead:

I know how to access the trouble codes on OBD I via the ALDL plug and the check engine light, and have a turbolink for my 87 Turbo Regal. However the plug on this car is like a OBD II plug and the emissions sticker shows the car is OBD I. So with that the case I don't know what pins to jump and the turbolink will not work either. I have researched this via the internet and not found much info. It seems like there were not very many non-supercharged Rivieras made. The guys that support Turbolink say that this engine is basically the same as what is in a non-supercharged Regal.

As for the PVC valve, I have changed this installing a new valve when the intake work was done. As for the seals, I know there is one around the base of the PVC, but that is all I have seen. There could have been some missing from previous owners. Anyone know for sure??

Thanks again for the input. :grinno:

A full line scanner is the only thing that will read the obd1.5 codes, there is another o ring below the pcv also.

I hav e a 95 and have learned a few things chasing down a similar problem regarding the Check Engine Soon light.
First of all, the 95 Riv is a "sort of" OBD II but can not be read by a "USUAL" OBD II reader/scanner. You'll need a GM TECH 1 (very expensive, even on eBay) or an ACTRON CP9145 or CP9150. I rented one at Murray's for a refundable $300 deposit and found (in conjunction with the shop manual) that a number of conditions will turn on the "SES" light for the current key cycle and then reset when the engine is turned off. One of the more common problems is a sensed occasional misfire. After 10 of these on any key cycle the "SES" light is illuminated.
This misfire is most often caused by a bad ground at the ICM (the assembly directly under the coil packs). The ICM is mounted to the block at three points, two of which are also grounds. One of these is also the main ground for the engine. Undo these and clean-up the surfaces that make electrical contact. I did that and then moved up to my next engine problem. This took care of the "SES" light.

your advice on the ground strap from under the coil pack has cured a no start problem i have had for months. thanks a lot.

your advice on the ground strap from under the coil pack has cured a no start problem i have had for months. thanks a lot.

Welcome to AF.

Good to see the forum has been of benefit to you. However, old thread so it has been closed.

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