Diagnostic Tools: Amazing What You Can Do With A Cellphone cont.

The Lincoln Navigator I had used for an example in the first part of this article had no trouble codes stored, which was fine for my purposes. I just wanted to introduce you to the cellphone possibilities. I also had a Ford Explorer which did have a pending code stored. When a car with OBDII system sees a fault that it is programmed to notice, it stores that as a pending code. Based on programming as well it can move that code to current if it is noticed again. Usually three logged faults and the code will set as current, or hard and the light will come on. I won't go further down that road in this article but did want to briefly explain what a pending code is.
I scanned the Explorer for codes and found P1443. The definition information shows the code is pending and is listed as Evaporative Emission Purge Valve Malfunction. The U-Scan app has a *smart* link as well called code connect. Code Connect will let you in on the most common repair for the problem. In this case, the most common fix for a code P1443 is to replace the EVAP canister purge valve. Now, exactly because I always stress there is no machine to tell you what is wrong with your car, let me stress that we don't know what is wrong with this car. <vbg> We have a pending code for a fault that is often caused by a bad purge valve.

That is information we can use though. If I were going to go further in diagnosis I'd have a place to begin testing. What I did further with the cellphone though is input the vin to the OReilly store where I could get a price and availability of the purge valve. With that I could make an estimate on a likely cost range and get an ok to go further with tests. Yes, very useful. 

Time for a phone call and coincidentally the phone was in my hand. 

Thanks!

Kenneth Hayes

G&G Auto Repair