My 96 Dodge Ram P/U check engine light is on and it blinks out codes 51 and 56, can any one tell me what these codes represent. One person suggested that the 51 code was engine fuel/air ration to lean, might indicate the oxygen sensor needs replacing, is this correct. No one seems to know what the 56 code is for, and yes I have double and triple check the numbers.
My guess is code 56 may have been misread and was actually Code 55 which indicates end of fault code.
Here is some good directions along with the fault codes. http://www.allpar.com/fix/codes/index.html
Remember the first long flash is a bulb check so only count the flashes after the first long flash
Do you have the year correct? All 1996 motor passenger vehicles, and light trucks, had four digit Diagnostic Trouble Codes (DTCs) and OBD II emissions control systems.
Get the engine computer scanned for the codes. Some auto parts stores do it for free.
This might be one of those “in-between” models that made appearances around this time. I used to have a '95 S-10 pickup that was an OBD-I system, but used an OBD-II connector and thus no regular OBD-II scanner could read the thing. The pin-shorting method of reading codes still worked, too.
I didn’t think this extended to any '96 vehicles as well, but anything’s possible I guess.
You can probably get the more comprehensive codes,if read with a code reader as stated By hellokit. However the key dance will still work for the less comprehensive codes up to around 2000 model year.
There was only one in 1994 model which was fully OBD II: the Nissan G20. In 1995 models, there were a few more, such as: the Camaro. In 1996, all were required to be fully OBD II compliant.
Here’s the list: http://www.obdii.com/connector.html “Not compliant” means that they were still OBD I.
On many models, Chrysler – unlike the other manufacturers – kept the OBD-I codes in 1996 and later years in addition to OBD-II. A nice touch since the codes can be read out using the ignition key and dash lights. If your vehicle is plauged with occasional spurious codes as some late 1990s vehicles were, you can check quickly to see if a CEL is caused by an old familiar non-problem or by something new and potentially serious.