P0168: Fuel Temperature Too High
What to do
Usually driveable, sometimes with reduced power in hot weather or after towing. Worth investigating if it recurs during ordinary driving.
What this code means
Fuel returning to the tank has exceeded the temperature the module expects. Hot fuel is less dense, so injection quantity drifts if it is not compensated for, and on direct-injection systems it can vaporise in the rail and disrupt delivery. Sustained high-load running warms fuel naturally; a blocked return line or a failed tank cooler makes it happen when it should not.
Likely causes
Start here
- Blocked fuel return line · moderate
- Faulty fuel temperature sensor · moderate
Less common
- Low fuel level causing poor heat dissipation · easy
- Failed fuel cooler · moderate
- Worn high pressure fuel pump · specialist
Symptoms
Components involved
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.
Community experience
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What makes one worth reading:
- The car — make, model, year and engine. The same fault behaves differently on each.
- What you measured, not only what you replaced.
- What actually fixed it — or that nothing did, which is worth knowing too.
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