P2342: Cylinder 7 Above Knock/Combustion Vibration Sensor Threshold
What to do
Avoid heavy loads and ease off if you hear a rattle. Check the fuel grade first, and confirm which physical cylinder this is on your engine before any dismantling — the numbering is not standard across manufacturers.
What this code means
Cylinder 7 is requiring more knock protection than normal. The mechanism is at P2336, the fuel grade test at P2337, and the one-cylinder-or-many discriminator at P2341.
On an eight-cylinder engine the cylinder numbering follows the manufacturer's own scheme rather than a standard one, so confirm which physical cylinder this is before anything is removed — the same caution set out at P2318 for ignition coils, and it costs the same afternoon if ignored.
Likely causes
Start here
- Incorrect or low octane fuel · easy
- Carbon deposits in the combustion chamber · moderate
- Clogged fuel injectors · moderate
Less common
- Worn or fouled spark plugs · easy
- Low coolant level · easy
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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