How to decode an error code without hardware
Diagnosing a car can be quite expensive if you don't have a friend in the garage. Therefore, many drivers prefer to buy the appropriate equipment on the Internet, especially the Chinese one, and do it themselves. However, not everyone knows that important information about car damage can be obtained without any additional equipment, but only with the help of pedals. Of course, for this, the car must have an on-board computer.
If the Check Engine light comes on on the dashboard, it is obvious that it is time to check the engine. The problem is that the indicator gives too general information. At the same time, more and more modern cars are equipped with on-board computers that collect fairly complete information about the current state of the car. They can provide information on errors and malfunctions in the form of codes, for which you can use a combination of the car's pedals.
How to do this in vehicles with mechanical speeds: Simultaneously press the accelerator and brake and turn the key without starting the engine. The computer then displays the fault and error codes, if any. The numbers that appear must be written down and deciphered. Each different number indicates a different problem.
How to do it in cars with automatic speeds: Press the accelerator and brake pedal again and turn the key without starting the engine. The gear selector must be in drive mode. Then, while still keeping your feet on both pedals, you must turn the key off and on again. After that, the codes will appear on the control panel.
It is important to know that either the Internet or the car manual will help to decipher the error codes. All this will help to understand the specific cause of the breakdown even before contacting the service. Otherwise, you will significantly reduce the likelihood that the wizard will deliver diagnostics, or force you to do unnecessary repairs ("it's not bad to change the cables" or something like that).
The codes received are called ECNs. As a rule, they consist of a letter and four numbers. The letters can mean the following: B - body, C - chassis, P - engine and gearbox, U - interunit data bus. The first digit can be from 0 to 3 and means, respectively, universal, "factory" or "spare". The second shows the system or function of the control unit, and the last two show the error code number. Thus, only the first four characters indicate an error.
