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P205F

Reductant System Performance (Bank 2)

The DEF system as a whole on bank 2 is not delivering the required NOx reduction — NOx-out remains too high relative to commanded dosing across a drive cycle. Causes range from poor DEF quality, restricted dosing line, weak pump, to a degraded SCR catalyst.

  • Check engine light: Yes
  • Emissions related: Yes
  • Repair difficulty: hard

Symptoms

  • Check engine light or NOx warning on
  • AdBlue/DEF level or quality warning
  • Possible no-start countdown after ignore period
  • Failed emissions inspection (NOx)

Common causes

Ordered by how often each turns out to be the cause.

  • Poor DEF quality — diluted or contaminatedCommon
  • SCR catalyst thermally agedPossible
  • Crystallisation restricts dosing linePossible

Parts involved

  • SCR Catalyst
  • Reductant Metering Unit
  • Reductant Quality Sensor
  • Reductant Pump

P205F is a generic OBD-II code defined by SAE J2012. Exact wording and diagnostic procedure vary by manufacturer and model. Code definitions are drawn from the public-domain OBDex dataset; the workshop notes are our own.