P1285 code?

Maintenance/Repairs
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1

Hello everyone,

Today when I was driving home from work, I glanced at my temp gauge and saw it was slightly past the halfway point. Maybe 65% of the way between all the way cold and all the way hot. Definitely not overheating but hotter than usual. (I am taking car to mechanic this weekend for diagnostic.) I kept a close eye on it and drove the rest of the way home for 20 minutes but it didn’t go up anymore. However the check engine light came on just as I was arriving home and I borrowed neighbors obd scanner and the code was P1285. Which is a cylinder temperature overheat condition. Why did it throw this code when my car didn’t overheat? 65% of the way up on the gauge is definitely not overheating. Should I be worried I caused some severe engine damage by driving home with the gauge slightly higher than normal?

My question is; will the computer throw an overheat code if it detects the gauge moves even slightly past normal temperaure, even if the car didn’t actually overheat?

Edit: It appears my coolant levels were normal and there were no visible leaks anywhere so that can be ruled out

2

Have you checked your coolant level ?

main cause for that code is overheating, if coolant is low the sending unit for the gauge is not immersed in coolant so not giving accurate reading on gauge, so you don’t know if your engine actually over heated or not.

I wouldn’t drive it until you determine your coolant level is correct.

3

I waited until it cooled down and opened the radiator and could see coolant a few inches below where you remove the cap and there was coolant in the overflow tank so that checked out

4

Meaning it’s low on coolant, did you top it off.?

5

Yes. Does the cooling system need to be burped if i added coolant into the radiator?