This paper considers the effects of different types of faults on a proton exchange membrane fuel cell model (PEMFC). Using databases (which record the fault effects) and probabilistic methods (such as the Bayesian-Score and Markov Chain Monte Carlo), a graphical-probabilistic structure for fault diagnosis is constructed. The graphical model defines the cause-effect relationship among the variables, and the probabilistic method captures the numerical dependence among these variables. Finally, the Bayesian network (i.e. the graphical-probabilistic structure) is used to execute the diagnosis of fault causes in the PEMFC model based on the effects observed. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.