P272D: Park Pawl Motor Control Circuit Current Too High
What to do
Always apply the parking brake when you park — do not rely on P. The car may not be able to engage or confirm the park lock. When parking, come to a full stop, apply the parking brake, and only then select P; doing it in that order takes the vehicle's weight off the park mechanism and is worth the habit on a slope. Get it diagnosed promptly.
What this code means
The park pawl motor is drawing more current than expected.
The park pawl is the only thing physically stopping a parked car from rolling away, and shift-by-wire made it an electrical component.
It is a steel tooth that drops into a toothed wheel on the output shaft. On a car with a mechanical linkage, moving the lever to P pushes it there through a cable and the driver feels it engage. On shift-by-wire there is no linkage — the lever is a switch, and a motor moves the pawl. Which means the car has to know the pawl engaged, and has to tell the driver when it did not.
That is why these codes matter more than their part cost suggests. A pawl that has not engaged leaves the car held only by the parking brake, and on a slope by nothing at all if the brake is also electric and has not applied.
Excess current means the motor is working against something. That is a mechanical finding rather than an electrical one: the mechanism is stiff, obstructed, or being asked to move when it cannot.
The commonest legitimate cause is parking on a slope. The vehicle's weight loads the pawl against the tooth it dropped into, and the motor may not have the force to withdraw it — which is exactly why the advice for a manual transmission on a hill is to leave it in gear and apply the handbrake, and why an automatic should be brought to a stop on the brake, parking brake applied, and only then put in P. Doing it in that order unloads the pawl and it withdraws freely.
Beyond that: corrosion in the mechanism, a failing motor, or a control module unable to drive it.
Use the parking brake every time while this is stored, and do not assume the car is held by P.
Likely causes
Start here
- Corroded or loose connector · specialist
- Faulty transmission range selector motor · specialist
- Damaged wiring harness · specialist
- Seized or obstructed park mechanism · specialist
Less common
- Faulty transmission control module · specialist
Symptoms
Components involved
Information, not instruction
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