P0445
Evaporative Emission System Purge Control Valve Circuit Shorted
- Severity
- Low
- Driving
- Drivable — book it in
The purge control valve circuit is shorted. Depending on where the short is, the valve may be held open - drawing fuel vapour into the engine constantly, which upsets the mixture and makes the car hard to start after refuelling.
Possible causes
- CommonFailed purge control valve
- CommonCorroded connector or damaged wiring
- CommonSplit, perished or disconnected purge hose
- CommonValve stuck open by debris from a degraded charcoal canister
- PossibleBlown fuse on the circuit
- RareFailed control module driver
What you might notice
- Hard starting immediately after refuelling
- Rough idle
- Stalling shortly after starting
- Fuel smell
- Failed emissions test
- Check engine light on
What to check, in order
- Disconnect the valve and check whether the short persists at the harness. If it does, the fault is in the wiring rather than the valve.
- If a fuse keeps blowing, find the short before fitting another one.
- Note whether the car is hard to start straight after refuelling. That symptom is close to diagnostic for a purge valve stuck open, and it costs nothing to observe.
- Check the purge hoses for splits and disconnection.
- Measure the valve winding resistance against specification.
- Inspect the connector for corrosion.
- Check whether the valve holds vacuum when closed. A valve that leaks with no power applied is stuck open, and that is what causes the hard starting.
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
Auxiliary emission controls
P0400P0401P0402P0403P0404P0405P0406P0407P0408P0409P0410P0411P0412P0413P0414P0415P0416P0417P0418P0419P0420P0421P0422P0423P0424P0425P0426P0427P0428P0429P0430P0431P0432P0433P0434P0435P0436P0437P0438P0439P0440P0441P0442P0443P0444P0445P0446P0447P0448P0449P0450P0451P0452P0453P0454P0455P0456P0457P0458P0459P0460P0461P0462P0463P0464P0465P0466P0467P0468P0469P0470P0471P0472P0473P0474P0475P0476P0477P0478P0479P0480P0481P0482P0483P0484P0485P0486P0487P0488P0489P0490P0491P0492P0493P0494P0495P0496P0497P0498P0499