Cause
Faulty cylinder deactivation solenoid
The solenoid that routes oil pressure to the lifters of one cylinder so that cylinder can be switched off under light load.
It is not the same part as the valve control solenoid on a variable valve timing system, and the distinction matters when reading a quote. A VVT solenoid phases a camshaft, advancing or retarding when the valves open. This one does not change timing at all — it collapses a lifter so a valve does not open. Both are oil-directing solenoids on the same engine, both fail for similar reasons, and they are frequently confused.
How it fails is mostly about where it lives. These solenoids sit in the valley or the head, often grouped in a manifold assembly, in the hottest and dirtiest oil in the engine. Windings fail open, but far more often the fault is contamination: varnish from neglected oil in a passage narrower than a pencil lead, or oil that has wicked into the connector from a leaking seal directly above it.
Check its screen and the oil before condemning the solenoid, and read every stored code first — several cylinders reporting together is a shared supply, a shared ground or the module, not several failed solenoids.
Typically specialist work. Needs equipment or training most home workshops do not have.
Some of these codes mean you should stop driving
24 of the 76 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 (76)
Codes where this is a likely explanation first, rather than merely a possible one.
- P3401 Cylinder 1 Deactivation/Intake Valve Control Circuit/Open Likely for this code High
- P3402 Cylinder 1 Deactivation/Intake Valve Control Circuit Performance Likely for this code Stop driving High
- P3403 Cylinder 1 Deactivation/Intake Valve Control Circuit Low Likely for this code Moderate
- P3405 Cylinder 1 Exhaust Valve Control Circuit/Open Likely for this code High
- P3406 Cylinder 1 Exhaust Valve Control Circuit Performance Likely for this code Stop driving High
- P3407 Cylinder 1 Exhaust Valve Control Circuit Low Likely for this code Moderate
- P3409 Cylinder 2 Deactivation/Intake Valve Control Circuit/Open Likely for this code High
- P3410 Cylinder 2 Deactivation/Intake Valve Control Circuit Performance Likely for this code Stop driving High
- P3411 Cylinder 2 Deactivation/Intake Valve Control Circuit Low Likely for this code Moderate
- P3413 Cylinder 2 Exhaust Valve Control Circuit/Open Likely for this code High
- P3414 Cylinder 2 Exhaust Valve Control Circuit Performance Likely for this code Stop driving High
- P3415 Cylinder 2 Exhaust Valve Control Circuit Low Likely for this code Moderate
- P3417 Cylinder 3 Deactivation/Intake Valve Control Circuit/Open Likely for this code High
- P3418 Cylinder 3 Deactivation/Intake Valve Control Circuit Performance Likely for this code Stop driving High
- P3419 Cylinder 3 Deactivation/Intake Valve Control Circuit Low Likely for this code Moderate
- P3421 Cylinder 3 Exhaust Valve Control Circuit/Open Likely for this code High
- P3422 Cylinder 3 Exhaust Valve Control Circuit Performance Likely for this code Stop driving High
- P3423 Cylinder 3 Exhaust Valve Control Circuit Low Likely for this code Moderate
- P3425 Cylinder 4 Deactivation/Intake Valve Control Circuit/Open Likely for this code High
- P3426 Cylinder 4 Deactivation/Intake Valve Control Circuit Performance Likely for this code Stop driving High
- P3427 Cylinder 4 Deactivation/Intake Valve Control Circuit Low Likely for this code Moderate
- P3429 Cylinder 4 Exhaust Valve Control Circuit/Open Likely for this code High
- P3430 Cylinder 4 Exhaust Valve Control Circuit Performance Likely for this code Stop driving High
- P3431 Cylinder 4 Exhaust Valve Control Circuit Low Likely for this code Moderate
- P3433 Cylinder 5 Deactivation/Intake Valve Control Circuit/Open Likely for this code 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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