I've decided to replace this part because my car exhibits so many of the symptoms I've read about here. Primarily, it starts great when cold, but will not start when warm unless the acclerator is depressed. My probelm is that I can't locate it. I've read on this board and on my Alldata CD that it should be located "behind the battery", but there is nothing behind my battery but firewall.

My car's exhaust smells very much like unburnt gasoline. As a control function, could the OVP cause that?

Thanks for all your valuable advice.

Darrell

There is a little plastic panel behind the battery that if removed will reveal all the nasty little parts you are looking for..

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Jeff Lawrence
1989 300e
2000 Dodge Grand Caravan SE
No matter what you fix, there will always be something else to fix..
"Warranty" is just another way of postponing the inevitable.

Do I have to take the battery out to get to the panel. I didn't see it when I looked last night, but for some reason, I was thinking the OVP would be exposed.

I just replaced my OVP a couple of days ago...

You do not have to remove the battery to get to the panel.

You should see a black slightly-contoured plastic panel about the size of the battery located directly behind the battery. It is held in place vertically by the firewall lip just below the rubber/foam hood seal. There are no fasteners, so just a gentle push down should get the panel below the lip, and then you can pull it out of the way.

There you will see a number of electrical components. The one you want to look for is a silver rectangular box (about the height of your index finger). On early models, it has a red top with a clear cover and an AN-type fuse recessed inside. On mine (93 and later), the top of the OVP is white. The fuse is either 10 or 15 amps. Check to see if the fuse is blown first and replace before you decide to replace the OVP.

The OVP has a bracket that is bolted on sideways to some other hardware. As far as installation is concerned, I found it easier to remove the battery first, so there was room to work with tools. Took about 10 minutes for the whole job, including battery removal and reinstall.

I don't believe the OVP has anything to do with the fuel smell you've encountered though. That's a fuel mixture problem. The OVP's job is to protect the vehicle's sensitive computer circuitry from voltage surges (such as jump-starting).

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2009 ML350 (106K) - Family vehicle
2001 CLK430 Cabriolet (80K) - Wife's car
2005 BMW 645CI (138K) - My daily driver
2016 Mustang (32K) - Daughter's car