Shift Pointers
- Subject: Code P1624 on 1996-2002 S-series Saturn
- Unit: TAAT
- Essential Reading: Rebuilder, Diagnostician
- Author: Pete Luban, ATSG, Transmission Digest Contributing Editor
I ran across an interesting code the other day. A guy called in to the ATSG help line and said, ”I have a 1999 Saturn SC2 with a code P1624.
I said, “That doesn’t sound like a tranny code, but let me look it up.”
So, I looked it up, and the code definition said, “Customer Snapshot Data Available.”
I said to myself, “This car took a picture of the driver. Wow! What next? Better yet, what for?”
So I looked into this a little further and came to find that this car will store a “freeze-frame” movie frame when the PCM senses a problem that has not yet become a hard code.
The system is designed so a technician can capture failure-record information during a drivability condition that may be difficult to duplicate while driving the vehicle.
Now, here’s the catch: Only cars with cruise control have this feature. The reason is that to store the code in the first place and have a freeze-frame to retrieve, you have to cycle the cruise-control on/off switch three times within three seconds with the ignition on.
So the next time you’re scanning one of these Saturns and retrieve code P1624, check out the stored freeze-frame movie frame; it may help you to nail down the complaint.
It seems that this feature is available on 1996 to 2002 S-series Saturn with the TAAT transmission only. I have not seen it on any other models or in any other model years, and remember that it is available only when the vehicle is equipped with cruise control.
