What is DTC?
Administrator
posted this
30 May 2018
If "Check Engine Light" is on, it means that your vehicle has one or more issues explained in a form OBD II Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTC). The "Malfunction Indicator Lamp" (or MIL ) comes on to warn you when the On-board Diagnostic System (OBD II) detects an issue that could cause your vehicle's emissions to exceed 1.5 times the legal limit.
If a component of a system is not operating normally within acceptable limits or fails a self-test, the OBD II system records one or more "Diagnostic Trouble Codes" (DTCs) that correspond to the fault and turns on your Check Engine Light to let you know there is a problem.
OBD-II supports SAE J2012 standard which comprises the corresponding trouble codes - Diagnostic trouble codes (DTC’s). The OBD-II codes have united format consisting of a Latin letter and 4 digits (sometimes letters instead).
These codes are used by some manufacturers to identify vehicle problems.
The codes are divided into two groups – generic and extended codes. Generic ones are strictly standardized and their decoding is always the same for all the OBD-II cars, but vehicle manufacturers also may use manufacturer specific DTC codes that are different from the Generic codes – extended codes. Foreign vehicles may also use DTC codes different from the generic DTC codes. It's important to remember that codes depend on the cars construction, model, and manufacturer.
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