Fault Family System: Powertrain (P-Codes) 7 SAE Codes

Park Pawl Actuator Circuit

Diagnostic & Technical Explanation

Code P272C (Park Pawl Motor Control Circuit) sets when the TCM detects an open circuit, out-of-range voltage, excess motor current, or a performance fault while driving the park lock/pawl actuator motor that engages and releases the parking pawl on a shift-by-wire transmission. Causes are a binding pawl mechanism raising motor current, a failed actuator motor, or damaged control wiring at the transmission case, and because the vehicle may not hold Park, diagnosis should treat rollaway risk seriously.

These 7 diagnostic trouble codes share one detection mechanism and one repair path, which is why MechanicDB groups them into a single authored fault family rather than repeating the same explanation 7 times.

Codes in this family (7)

Code	Definition	Repair coverage
P272C	Park Pawl Motor Control Circuit	3 ranked fixes
P272D	Park Pawl Motor Control Circuit Current Too High	3 ranked fixes
P2887	Park Lock/Pawl Actuator Circuit	3 ranked fixes
P2888	Park Lock/Pawl Actuator Circuit/Open	3 ranked fixes
P2889	Park Lock/Pawl Actuator Circuit Low	3 ranked fixes
P288A	Park Lock/Pawl Actuator Circuit High	3 ranked fixes
P288B	Park Lock/Pawl Actuator Circuit Performance	3 ranked fixes

What this page does not show

This page publishes the fault mechanism and the code index. The licensed dataset adds, for every one of the 15,886 codes, the full authored repair set (56,729 procedures in total) with the fields deliberately withheld here:

Procedures 2..n after the first-listed procedure
Aftermarket parts cost ranges in USD (est_parts_cost_min/max_usd)
Professional labor-hour estimates (est_labor_hours)
Step-by-step diagnostic and repair instructions
Replacement-part mappings and catalog lookups
6,637 manufacturer-specific OEM codes across 32 makes ($149 tier)

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