P230ECylinder 5 Air-Fuel Ratio Imbalance - Adjustment At Limit During Balance
- Generic OBD-II code · Powertrain
- Turns on the check-engine light
- Matters for the ITP
- Needs a drive cycle to confirm a fix
- How the car detects it
- P230E concerns cylinder 5 and is genuine only on engines with five or more cylinders, such as inline fives, sixes and V8s. The balancing logic has exhausted the individual fuel trim for cylinder 5. Audi documents a special case: on the 2020 A6 with the four-cylinder 2.0 TFSI (EA888 Gen 3) a calibration error stored a cylinder 2 imbalance as P230E, so on that car the code really points at cylinder 2, while the guided tests still diagnose the right cylinder; the bulletin is informational and offers no fix. A P230E on a four-cylinder is therefore a reason to check the software and the bulletins first. VW's 2014 Golf table already includes the plain cylinder 5 code P21A0 for its five-cylinder; P0305 is the misfire counter for the same cylinder.
- What you may notice
- Check engine light on
- Rough idle, possibly misfire on cylinder 5
- Higher fuel consumption or exhaust smell
- Likely causes
- LikelyInjector of cylinder 5 delivering too much or too little (deposits, wear)
- PossibleAir leak at the intake port or injector seal of cylinder 5
- PossibleValve of cylinder 5 not sealing (worn seat or guide), low compression
- PossibleCalibration error in the cylinder assignment (Audi 2.0 TFSI Gen 3, bulletin 2060348)
- Inspection (ITP)
- Matters for the ITP. While the check-engine light is on, the car fails the emissions check.
- Repair
- Medium · Usually a job for a workshop.Typical cost: €0 – €1,500
- Related codes
Explanation from obdex (CC0), exactly as the app shows it. Guidance only; confirm with a workshop.