P0817
Starter Disable Circuit
- Severity
- High
- Driving
- Drivable — book it in
A fault in the starter disable circuit - the circuit that stops the engine cranking unless the transmission is in park or neutral. Depending on which way the fault goes, the engine may refuse to crank at all, or it may crank in any gear, and the second of those is genuinely dangerous: the car can move as it starts.
Possible causes
- CommonFailed or misadjusted park/neutral or range sensor
- CommonWiring or connector fault in the starter disable circuit
- CommonFailed starter relay
- PossibleCorroded connector at the transmission
- PossibleAftermarket alarm, immobiliser or remote start spliced into the starter circuit
- RareFailed control module output
What you might notice
- Engine will not crank in park or neutral
- Engine cranks in drive or reverse - it must not
- Intermittent no-crank
- Check engine light on
What to check, in order
- Test whether the engine cranks with a gear selected. Do this only with the handbrake firmly applied, the wheels chocked and nobody in front of or behind the vehicle. If it cranks in gear, stop using the car until it is repaired.
- Check the range or park/neutral sensor adjustment, which is the most common cause and is often the whole repair.
- Watch the selected gear on the live data screen through the full selector travel.
- Check the starter relay and the wiring in the disable circuit.
- Ask whether an aftermarket alarm, immobiliser or remote start has been fitted. These are wired into exactly this circuit and are a frequent cause.
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
Transmission
P0800P0801P0802P0803P0804P0805P0806P0807P0808P0809P0810P0811P0812P0813P0814P0815P0816P0817P0818P0819P0820P0821P0822P0823P0824P0825P0826P0827P0828P0829P0830P0831P0832P0833P0834P0835P0836P0837P0838P0839P0840P0841P0842P0843P0844P0845P0846P0847P0848P0849P0850P0851P0852P0853P0854P0855P0856P0857P0858P0859P0860P0861P0862P0863P0864P0865P0866P0867P0868P0869P0870P0871P0872P0873P0874P0875P0876P0877P0878P0879P0880P0881P0882P0883P0884P0885P0886P0887P0888P0889P0890P0891P0892P0893P0894P0895P0896P0897P0898P0899