P3453
Cylinder 5 Exhaust Valve Control Circuit Low
The engine control module has detected a low voltage condition in the control circuit of the cylinder 5 exhaust valve deactivation solenoid. A short to ground or low-side driver fault prevents proper actuation of the exhaust valve during cylinder deactivation events on bank-relevant cylinder 5.
- Check engine light: Yes
- Emissions related: Yes
- Repair difficulty: hard
Common causes
Ordered by how often each turns out to be the cause.
- Solenoid or wiring shorted to groundCommon
- ECM low-side driver failedPossible
- Connector corrosion or pin damageLess likely
Parts involved
- Cylinder Deactivation Solenoid
- Engine Wiring Harness
- ECM
P3453 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.