Think about yourself driving quietly aboard your Cadillac ATS and all of a sudden an engine light appears on your dashboard ! The most standard kind of reaction is the fear of risking a major trouble. To know what exactly this light corresponds to, you will have to learn how to read an Cadillac ATS fault codes, you may have already read about OBD system, this is precisely what we are going to talk about. Our editors have decided to compose this piece of content to enable you fairly quickly locate the source of this default code and to give you serenity. To get this done, we will first check out the nature of a fault code on Cadillac ATS, then how to read an Cadillac ATS fault code, and finally how to erase this fault code in order to turn off the light on your dashboard.

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What is a Cadillac ATS fault code?

A fault code is a generic or standard code which is identical to all manufacturers , they are also known as DTC (Data Trouble Code), the purpose is to make sure that any diagnostic OBD can interpret them. They will be represented by a standard format, like for example: P0255. Each data will have a particular explanation. Default codes are codes issued by the calculators of your Cadillac ATS. These ECUs will continuously monitor your vehicle’s emissions, pressures, mixtures and when the values exceed the limits set by the vehicle’s ECU, the fault code will appear. The benefit of knowing how to read a fault code on your Cadillac ATS is that you will have access to complete info about your motor vehicle which will enable you to discover what concern you are standing in front of.

How to read a fault code on my Cadillac ATS?

In this second section we will now focus specifically on what brings you on the website, how to read a fault code on Cadillac ATS. To access this precious data you will need to to obtain a diagnostic tool, also called OBD 2, named after the socket on your Cadillac ATS to which you will have to connect. These diagnostic tools are freely available in the market, you will be able to find some in Bluetooth version which connects to your phone and some standard versions with a reader associated to the socket, as far as price is concerned, you will be able to find models between 30 and 100 euros. Once you have obtained an OBD2 diagnostic reader, you will have to discover the diagnostic plug on your Cadillac ATS, it is based on the left side of your steering column on the lower part of your dashboard, behind a hatch. It is easy to locate because it is triangular shaped and has 16 pins. All you have to do is connect with your diagnostic tool to read the fault code of your Cadillac ATS.

How to erase the fault code Cadillac ATS

Finally, to finish this article content, we are going to explain you the manipulation to carry out to erase a fault code on your Cadillac ATS. Once you have navigated through the menus, you will access the list of active fault codes on your car. But, you will have to ask yourself an essential question, is it really good to erase this fault code on Cadillac ATS? Indeed, erasing a fault code without resolving the trouble is like closing its eyes to the fact. Moreover, the computer of your Cadillac ATS is made to take resolutions according to the data it records, if an essential fault code is on, it will actually adapt the engine general performance to protect it. So if you delete the fault code, be sure you solve the problem to which it is associated. Some OBD diagnostic tools do not allow you to do this. You have a dedicated navigation menu on most diagnostic tools that should allow you to clear this fault code on Cadillac ATS.

If you wish more guides on the Cadillac ATS, go to our Cadillac ATS category.