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Diagnostic Trouble Codes

When your vehicles computer detects a fault it will alert you by setting a trouble code and possibly lighting your check engine light.
Trouble codes can be classified as pending or current. Usually if a pending code has been set it is because a fault was detected once. Pending codes usually mature into current codes.
Diagnostic Codes may also leave a Freeze Frame which may leave clues as to the conditions at the time of the setting of the code. This can be useful in trying to duplicate the problem.
Here is a screenshot showing Diagnostic Trouble Codes and Freeze Frame from a Ford E150 van. It shows that the vehicles computer was not reading enough EGR flow. This could be caused by two things.
1. Either the EGR was actually not flowing due to a plugged passage, bad valve, ect.
2. The sensor that reads the opening of the valve did not correctly relay the correct flow to the engines PCM Module.
It is very common that the sensor is the culprit as it was here.
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