Think about yourself driving calmly aboard your Kia Optima and abruptly an engine warning light appears on your dashboard ! The most common response is worries of risking a serious problem. To know what exactly this light corresponds to, you will have to learn how to read an Kia Optima fault codes, you may have already heard about OBD system, this is precisely what we are going to discuss. Our writers have chosen to compose this content page to enable you fairly quickly find the source of this default code and to give you serenity. To achieve this, we will first examine the nature of a fault code on Kia Optima, then how to read an Kia Optima fault code, and finally how to erase this fault code to be able to turn off the light on your dashboard.

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What is a Kia Optima fault code?

A fault code is a generic or standard code common to all manufacturers , they are also named DTC (Data Trouble Code), the goal is to guarantee that any diagnostic OBD can understand 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 Kia Optima. 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 emerge. The benefit of understanding how to read a fault code on your Kia Optima is that you will have gain access to to specific info about your motor vehicle which will let you to figure out what concern you are standing in front of.

How to read a fault code on my Kia Optima?

In this second part we will now focus specifically on what brings you on the website, how to read a fault code on Kia Optima. To gain access to this precious data you will need to to obtain a diagnostic tool, also referred to as OBD 2, named after the socket on your Kia Optima to which you will have to connect. These diagnostic tools are freely available for purchase, 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 situate the diagnostic plug on your Kia Optima, 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 Kia Optima.

How to erase the fault code Kia Optima

Finally, to conclude this content, we are going to demonstrate you the methode to carry out to erase a fault code on your Kia Optima. Once you have navigated through the menus, you will access the list of active fault codes on your car. However, you will have to ask yourself an important question, is it really good to erase this fault code on Kia Optima? In fact, erasing a fault code without dealing with the problem corresponds to closing its eyes to the fact. In addition, the computer of your Kia Optima is made to take resolutions depending to the data it records, if an important fault code is on, it will likely adapt the engine comportment to preserve it. So if you delete the fault code, remember to fix the problem to which it is linked. 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 Kia Optima.

If you wish more guides on the Kia Optima, go to our Kia Optima category.