Think about yourself driving calmly aboard your Nissan Altima and suddenly an engine signal appears on your dashboard ! The most common kind of reaction is the fear of risking a serious trouble. To know what accurately this light corresponds to, you will have to learn how to read an Nissan Altima fault codes, you may have previously heard of OBD system, this is exactly what we are going to talk about. Our editors have decided to write this document to enable you quickly find the source of this default code and to give you peace of mind. To do this, we will first examine the nature of a fault code on Nissan Altima, then how to read an Nissan Altima 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 Nissan Altima fault code?

A fault code is a universal or standard code which is identical to all automotive companies , they are also identified as DTC (Data Trouble Code), the point is to be sure that any diagnostic OBD can interpret them. They will be represented by a standard format, such as example: P0255. Each data will have a precise meaning. Default codes are codes issued by the calculators of your Nissan Altima. 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 show up. The advantage of understanding how to read a fault code on your Nissan Altima is that you will have gain access to to specific info about your vehicle which will let you to understand what trouble you are standing in front of.

How to read a fault code on my Nissan Altima?

In this second part we will now focus specifically on what brings you in this article, how to read a fault code on Nissan Altima. To gain access to this valued data you will need to to get a diagnostic tool, also referred to as OBD 2, named after the socket on your Nissan Altima to which you will have to connect. These diagnostic tools are easily 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 bought an OBD2 diagnostic reader, you will need to discover the diagnostic plug on your Nissan Altima, 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 Nissan Altima.

How to erase the fault code Nissan Altima

Finally, to finish this content, we are going to describe you the manipulation to carry out to erase a fault code on your Nissan Altima. 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 essential question, is it really advantageous to erase this fault code on Nissan Altima? In fact, erasing a fault code without dealing with the trouble is like closing its eyes to the fact. Moreover, the computer of your Nissan Altima is made to take resolutions according to the data it records, if a very important fault code is present, it will likely modify the engine comportment to protect it. So if you delete the fault code, remember to resolve 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 Nissan Altima.

If you need more guides on the Nissan Altima, go to our Nissan Altima category.