OBD Pending DTCs
WARNING: This page does not describe the selected car, but rather 9 other vehicles, including the 2004 Ford RV Cutaway, 2004 Ford Pickup, 2004 Ford F550 Super Duty, 2004 Ford F450 Super Duty, and 2004 Ford Excursion. However, it is still accessible from the selected car via links, so may be relevant.
Pending DTCs are DTCs that have only set during one drive cycle and may not have set the MIL yet. These DTCs may be identified using the Retrieve Pending DTCs Feature. Additionally, they will be found in the vehicle-specific mode RETRIEVE/CLEAR CONTINUOUS MEMORY DTCs from the instant that the DTC is set.
This function will only report pending failures that have occurred during the present drive cycle, but not indicate single failures that happened on any previous drive cycle.