P
Powertrain
Engine, fuel, ignition, emissions and transmission.
Reference
Trouble code lookup
Type the code your scanner showed you. Codes start with a letter (P, B, C or U) followed by four characters.
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We are writing these one at a time rather than dumping a definition table, so the library covers the most-searched codes first. This one is not written up yet.
DriveDecode reads and explains it from your car directly. See how it works.
Codes we have written up
36 codes so far, with more added as they are written.
Ignition and misfire
Fuel and air
Exhaust and catalyst
Emissions and evaporative
- P0401Exhaust gas recirculation flow insufficient
- P0442Small evaporative emission system leak detected
- P0443EVAP purge control valve circuit
- P0446Evaporative emission vent control circuit malfunction
- P0455Large evaporative emission system leak detected
- P0456Very small evaporative emission system leak detected
Sensors and circuits
- P0113Intake air temperature sensor circuit high input
- P0131Oxygen sensor circuit low voltage, bank 1 sensor 1
- P0133Oxygen sensor slow response, bank 1 sensor 1
- P0135Oxygen sensor heater circuit malfunction, bank 1 sensor 1
- P0141Oxygen sensor heater circuit malfunction, bank 1 sensor 2
- P0335Crankshaft position sensor A circuit
- P0340Camshaft position sensor A circuit
Transmission
Network and modules
What the first letter tells you
Every trouble code starts with a letter for the system that set it.
B
Body
Interior systems: climate, lighting, restraints.
C
Chassis
Braking, steering and suspension systems.
U
Network
Communication between the modules in the car.
Only P codes are guaranteed
Generic OBD-II gives every scanner access to powertrain and emissions data. B, C and U codes usually need manufacturer-specific decoding, so a generic adapter, the M1 and the Go included, will often not see them at all. The definitions here explain those codes; reading them off your car is a different problem.
Generic and manufacturer-specific codes
A code like P0420 is generic: it means the same thing on a Honda as it does on a Ford, because the standard defines it. Codes in the P1xxx range are manufacturer-specific, and the same number means genuinely different things on different makes.
This matters more than most sites admit. Around a fifth of all trouble codes carry more than one published meaning, and reading the wrong manufacturer's definition sends you to the wrong part of the car. Where a code has multiple meanings, we list them by make rather than picking one.