Retrieve Continuous DTCs

RETRIEVE/CLEAR CONTINUOUS DTCs

During vehicle operation, the RCM will detect and store both intermittent and hard failure DTCs in nonvolatile memory. The DTC strategy employed by the RCM incorporates a time-out scheme for determining when a concern exists in the system. This requires a concern to exist for up to 1 minute in the system before the RCM will detect it. For the RCM to determine that a concern no longer exists, the concern must be absent for up to 1 minute. The actual detection time-outs vary with each DTC. DTCs can be retrieved with a diagnostic tool using the retrieve/clear continuous DTCs option. Any DTCs stored in the RCM will be displayed on the diagnostic tool along with a brief description of the DTC. If no DTCs are present, the diagnostic tool will display a SYSTEM PASSED message. This option can also be used to clear DTCs from the RCM memory, as long as the concern no longer exists. Once 128 key cycles have been recorded since the concern was last detected, the DTC will automatically be removed from memory.

To retrieve or clear DTCs, follow these steps:
1. Connect the diagnostic tool to the data link connector (DLC).
2. Turn the ignition switch to the RUN position.
3. Follow the manufacturer's instructions for the diagnostic tool being used.

4. NOTE: Before proceeding with the clearing operation, make note of the DTCs displayed. Once cleared, DTCs cannot be retrieved.

All continuous DTCs will be displayed on the screen.

5. Clear the DTCs.
- The diagnostic tool can retrieve DTCs after clearing DTCs from the RCM.
- Continuous DTCs that have been cleared will not re-occur as "Continuous" in the same key cycle. Only new DTCs which were not present before clearing can occur as "Continuous" after clearing.