Posted on 9/28/2021
Nearly every vehicle you see on the road has an internal computer system that maintains communication with all of your vehicle's sensors and electronic devices. When your check engine light comes on, it has to be signaled through the computer first. The technical term for the entire system is generally known as on-board diagnostics. At South Park Tire & Auto, we run a "diagnostic" test by plugging a scanner into your car's computer. Let's go over some fundamentals on diagnostic codes and translations, plus the information can do for you. When we run a diagnostic, we connect the scanner into a port called the OBD-II port that's standard in all vehicles sold in the United States. We will then receive codes that have different letter and number combinations. These codes are universal across all car manufacturers for the most part, except for a few manufacturer-specific messages. Codes that begin with "P" are powertrain-related, codes that ... read more