Cause
Failed cylinder deactivation lifter
A lifter designed to collapse on command, which has stopped collapsing or stopped re-locking afterwards. This is the expensive failure behind cylinder deactivation codes, and it is common enough to be worth naming.
It is a more complicated part than an ordinary hydraulic lifter. A normal lifter takes up valve clearance and nothing else. A deactivating one carries a locking pin that oil pressure pushes aside, letting the body telescope so the camshaft lobe pushes into nothing and the valve stays shut. The pin has to release cleanly, and then re-lock cleanly, thousands of times.
The failure that matters is the re-lock. A pin that does not seat leaves the valve out of step with a camshaft still turning against it — the cylinder misfires, and the lobe riding an incorrectly loaded lifter can wear flat. At that point the repair is a camshaft and a full set of lifters rather than a solenoid, which is why a deactivation code accompanied by a misfire or a load-dependent tick is a reason to stop driving rather than to clear it and watch.
Oil is what actuates the pin, so oil level, grade and service history are diagnostic questions here and not maintenance ones. Many of these failures are the end of a long run of neglected oil changes.
Typically specialist work. Needs equipment or training most home workshops do not have.
Some of these codes mean you should stop driving
28 of the 28 codes this can cause indicate a fault where continuing to drive risks damage or is unsafe. Which one you have matters more than the cause does — read the code's own page before deciding.
Codes this can cause (28)
Codes where this is a likely explanation first, rather than merely a possible one.
- P3402 Cylinder 1 Deactivation/Intake Valve Control Circuit Performance Likely for this code Stop driving High
- P3406 Cylinder 1 Exhaust Valve Control Circuit Performance Likely for this code Stop driving High
- P3410 Cylinder 2 Deactivation/Intake Valve Control Circuit Performance Likely for this code Stop driving High
- P3414 Cylinder 2 Exhaust Valve Control Circuit Performance Likely for this code Stop driving High
- P3418 Cylinder 3 Deactivation/Intake Valve Control Circuit Performance Likely for this code Stop driving High
- P3422 Cylinder 3 Exhaust Valve Control Circuit Performance Likely for this code Stop driving High
- P3426 Cylinder 4 Deactivation/Intake Valve Control Circuit Performance Likely for this code Stop driving High
- P3430 Cylinder 4 Exhaust Valve Control Circuit Performance Likely for this code Stop driving High
- P3434 Cylinder 5 Deactivation/Intake Valve Control Circuit Performance Likely for this code Stop driving High
- P3438 Cylinder 5 Exhaust Valve Control Circuit Performance Likely for this code Stop driving High
- P3442 Cylinder 6 Deactivation/Intake Valve Control Circuit Performance Likely for this code Stop driving High
- P3446 Cylinder 6 Exhaust Valve Control Circuit Performance Likely for this code Stop driving High
- P3450 Cylinder 7 Deactivation/Intake Valve Control Circuit Performance Likely for this code Stop driving High
- P3454 Cylinder 7 Exhaust Valve Control Circuit Performance Likely for this code Stop driving High
- P3458 Cylinder 8 Deactivation/Intake Valve Control Circuit Performance Likely for this code Stop driving High
- P3462 Cylinder 8 Exhaust Valve Control Circuit Performance Likely for this code Stop driving High
- P3466 Cylinder 9 Deactivation/Intake Valve Control Circuit Performance Likely for this code Stop driving High
- P3470 Cylinder 9 Exhaust Valve Control Circuit Performance Likely for this code Stop driving High
- P3474 Cylinder 10 Deactivation/Intake Valve Control Circuit Performance Likely for this code Stop driving High
- P3478 Cylinder 10 Exhaust Valve Control Circuit Performance Likely for this code Stop driving High
- P3482 Cylinder 11 Deactivation/Intake Valve Control Circuit Performance Likely for this code Stop driving High
- P3486 Cylinder 11 Exhaust Valve Control Circuit Performance Likely for this code Stop driving High
- P3490 Cylinder 12 Deactivation/Intake Valve Control Circuit Performance Likely for this code Stop driving High
- P3494 Cylinder 12 Exhaust Valve Control Circuit Performance Likely for this code Stop driving High
- P341A Deactivation/Intake Valve Control Circuit Performance Bank 1 Stop driving High
Information, not instruction
CarGeek is a reference, not a service manual. Its pages are written from public sources and from what other people have found, never from a manufacturer's own service information, so they can be wrong or incomplete for your particular vehicle. Some of what they describe carries real risk: high voltage, fuel under pressure, stored energy, hot and moving parts.
Have anything you intend to act on checked by a trained person against the manufacturer's own procedure for your vehicle. Nothing here replaces that procedure.
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