P0195
Engine Oil Temperature Sensor
- Severity
- Low
- Driving
- Drivable — book it in
A fault in the engine oil temperature sensor circuit. Oil temperature is used for service interval calculation, for cooling fan and oil cooler control, and on many engines as an input to variable valve timing, which needs to know how readily the oil will flow. It rarely affects how the car drives.
Possible causes
- CommonFailed engine oil temperature sensor
- CommonCorroded or oil-contaminated connector
- CommonWiring fault between the sensor and the module
- PossiblePoor earth at the sensor
- PossibleVery low oil level, leaving the sensor reading air
What you might notice
- Oil life or service interval indication behaving oddly
- Cooling fans running more or less than expected
- Variable valve timing not operating smoothly
- Check engine light on
- Often nothing noticeable while driving
What to check, in order
- Check the oil level before anything else. It costs nothing, and a level low enough to uncover the sensor is a far more serious problem than the sensor itself.
- Compare oil temperature against coolant temperature after a cold soak. They should agree closely on a cold engine, and oil should then warm more slowly than coolant once running.
- Inspect the connector. These sensors sit in oil and heat, and their connectors harden and crack.
- Check the earth and the wiring before replacing the sensor.
Read this code from your own car
Plug an ELM327 adapter into the OBD-II port under the dashboard. Pin16 reads every stored, pending and permanent code, explains each one like this page does — offline, with no account — and shows what the car recorded when the fault was set.
Where this code sits
P00xxP01xxP02xxP03xxP04xxP05xxP06xxP07xxP08xxP09xxP0AxxP0BxxP0CxxP0DxxP0ExxP0FxxP10xxP11xxP12xxP13xxP14xxP15xxP16xxP17xxP18xxP19xxP1AxxP1BxxP1CxxP1DxxP1ExxP1FxxP20xxP21xxP22xxP23xxP24xxP25xxP26xxP27xxP28xxP29xxP2AxxP2BxxP2CxxP2DxxP2ExxP2FxxP30xxP31xxP32xxP33xxP34xxP35xxP36xxP37xxP38xxP39xxP3AxxP3BxxP3CxxP3DxxP3ExxP3Fxx
Fuel and air metering
P0100P0101P0102P0103P0104P0105P0106P0107P0108P0109P0110P0111P0112P0113P0114P0115P0116P0117P0118P0119P0120P0121P0122P0123P0124P0125P0126P0127P0128P0129P0130P0131P0132P0133P0134P0135P0136P0137P0138P0139P0140P0141P0142P0143P0144P0145P0146P0147P0148P0149P0150P0151P0152P0153P0154P0155P0156P0157P0158P0159P0160P0161P0162P0163P0164P0165P0166P0167P0168P0169P0170P0171P0172P0173P0174P0175P0176P0177P0178P0179P0180P0181P0182P0183P0184P0185P0186P0187P0188P0189P0190P0191P0192P0193P0194P0195P0196P0197P0198P0199