Pin16

P0388

Crankshaft Position Sensor "B" Circuit High

Severity
High
Driving
Drive only to a garage

The crankshaft position sensor "B" signal is reading high - typically shorted to voltage or with a lost earth. Without a usable signal the module cannot time the spark or the injectors, so the engine will not run.

Possible causes

What you might notice

What to check, in order

  1. Check the sensor earth before assuming a shorted signal wire - a lost earth commonly drives a signal high.
  2. Note whether the fault is heat-related. A sensor that works from cold, fails after twenty minutes and works again an hour later is the classic crankshaft sensor failure, and that pattern is worth more than any measurement.
  3. Inspect the connector for oil contamination and corrosion. These sensors sit low on the engine where oil leaks find them.
  4. Check the wiring for chafe and heat damage along its run.
  5. Inspect the sensor tip for metal debris.
  6. Watch engine speed on the live data screen while cranking. No reading confirms the signal is genuinely absent rather than merely poor.

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.

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Where this code sits