P2338: Cylinder 3 Above Knock/Combustion Vibration Sensor Threshold
What to do
Avoid heavy loads and ease off if you hear a metallic rattle. After the fuel grade has been checked, carbon build-up is the next most likely cause — it raises the compression in that cylinder and makes the fuel in the tank no longer good enough for it. On a direct injection engine, be aware that fuel additives poured into the tank cannot clean the inlet valves, because the fuel never passes them; that needs an induction cleaning treatment or physical removal, so a bottle from a shop is not the same job.
What this code means
Cylinder 3 is requiring more knock protection than normal. The mechanism is at P2336 and the fuel grade test at P2337.
Carbon deposits are the cause that best explains a single cylinder being worse than its neighbours, and they work by a route that is worth understanding: deposits occupy volume. A layer of carbon on the piston crown and combustion chamber roof reduces the space the mixture is compressed into, which raises the effective compression ratio of that cylinder only. A higher compression ratio needs a higher octane fuel to resist knock — so the cylinder has quietly been given a specification the fuel in the tank no longer meets.
Deposits also glow. Carbon holds heat and can retain enough of it to ignite the mixture before the spark does, which is pre-ignition — a related and more destructive relative of knock.
Direct injection engines are unusually prone to this for a structural reason: fuel is sprayed straight into the cylinder rather than past the inlet valves, so the valves never get washed by fuel and detergent. Deposits build on the valve backs and in the chamber in a way that port injection largely prevents by accident.
That has a practical consequence worth stating: on a direct injection engine, fuel additives poured into the tank cannot reach the inlet valves at all, because the fuel never touches them. Cleaning generally means an induction-side treatment or physical removal, which is a different and larger job than a bottle from a shelf.
Likely causes
Start here
- Carbon deposits in the combustion chamber · moderate
- Incorrect or low octane fuel · easy
- Carbon deposits on intake valves · specialist
Less common
- Excessive oil consumption · specialist
- Worn or fouled spark plugs · easy
Symptoms
Components involved
Information, not instruction
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