
This character will help you determine which of the four main car’s parts is at fault. The first character will either be P (powertrain), B (Body-AC/Airbag), C (chassis-ABS) or U (network-CAN/BUS).

In order to prevent unpredictable and unexpected DTC codes, as well as ensure that you understand fully what could be wrong with your car as problems occur, purchase a good OBD 2 scanner that is programmed to help car owners and technicians better understand a car’s specific problem or problems.ĭTCs come in a string of five characters. You may even likely just need to fix or replace the wiring of the sensor alone in order for the problem to be solved.ĭTCs can also be activated by faults in the foreseeable future, giving you inaccurate codes for problems or notifying you of a problem that may not even exist with the car in the first place.įor instance, a muddled MAF sensor could lead the car’s system to believe that the car has fuel mixture problems, when in reality, the sensor is causing the car to mix fuel unevenly. A car’s parts or components should not be replaced without reference from its manual, even if you have a clear identification of the DTC and what it describes.įor instance, if a DTC notifies you of a sensor problem, the solution of that problem might not be to replace the sensor, but rather to replace another component that the sensor is affiliated with. The the best understanding of possible causes of problems with the car, refer to the car’s manual.
