P03B1 Cylinder 3 Pressure Variation High

Some diesels have a combustion pressure sensor in the glow plug; the engine module uses it to control injection for each cylinder. This code concerns cylinder 3. GM's European 2.0 CDTI diesel (Saab 9-5, 2010) uses P03B1 as 'pressure variation too high' and sets it when the signal is outside its range for more than 0.2 s with the engine running; its fault table counts it among the signal performance faults together with the erratic code. What exactly is measured, Saab does not explain; presumably it is the swing of the pressure signal within an engine cycle – too large a swing points to a noisy or overshooting signal or implausible pressure peaks, for example from faulty sensor electronics, interference on the signal wire or, less often, a combustion anomaly such as a dripping injector. Usually there are no noticeable symptoms.

Likely causes

Symptoms

• Check engine light on
• Usually no noticeable symptoms
• Possibly rough running or combustion noise because control is off

Repair estimate

Typical range across vehicles; the real cost depends on what the testing finds.

Parts involved

Related codes

References: saabwisonline.com, patents.google.com, law.cornell.edu.