OBD-II Code · Fuel & Air
P0204
Injector Circuit Malfunction — Cylinder 4
Severity
high
Left alone, this one tends to take other parts with it.
Can you drive it
Not for long
Driving on this one risks further damage. Get it to a shop rather than carrying on with it.
Indicative cost (USD)
$100–$500
Varies by vehicle, diagnosis, parts, and local labor. This is not a repair quote.
Cylinder 4 injector circuit fault.
How a shop works this
Work from evidence to part, not the other way round. A code names a circuit or a symptom; it does not name the part that failed.
Note every code that is set, not just this one.
Codes that appear together usually narrow the cause faster than any one of them read alone.
Read the freeze frame — the conditions the fault was recorded under.
Cold or warm, idle or load, road speed and engine speed. A fault that only appears cold is a different fault from one that only appears under load, even with the same code on the scanner.
Confirm the fault is current rather than history.
Clear the code and see whether it returns under those same conditions. A code that does not come back may have been logged during a repair, a flat battery, or a bad connection that has since been disturbed.
Then work the likely-causes list in the order shown.
That order is what a shop checks first for this code — wiring and connections before the component they run to, because a connector costs nothing to inspect and is a common answer.
If the code comes back after a repair, the underlying fault is still there. That is the point to bring in a scanner with live data and freeze-frame, or a shop that has one.
Common symptoms
- Cyl 4 misfire
- Check engine light
Likely causes
- Failed injector 4Most common
- Wiring
Read the full diagnostic procedureP0204 flags the cylinder 4 injector circuit specifically.
P0204 flags the cylinder 4 injector circuit specifically. On inline-4 engines this is the last cylinder on the bank and often the hottest because it sits closest to the firewall and exhaust manifold collector, which means heat-related connector and harness failures concentrate there. On V8 applications cylinder 4 sits at the rear of bank 1 (driver's side on most domestics).
Cheapest-first ladder
- noid light to confirm PCM pulse arrival, resistance check at the injector (11-17 ohms port, 1-3 ohms GDI direct injection, compare to the other three cylinders for any outlier more than 0.5 ohm off median), and scope the driver pulse-width which should sit at 2.5 to 3.2 ms warm-idle, climbing to 18 to 22 ms WOT, with a clean square edge and ground-side pull-down within 0.5V of ground.
- Inspect the cylinder 4 connector for melted plastic and heat-darkened terminals before condemning the injector.
- The expensive misdiagnosis is replacing the injector for $300 to $500 when a $25 pigtail repair on a melted connector would have fixed it.
Vehicle-specific patterns2008-2014 VW/Audi 2.0T (EA888) Jetta, GTI, and A4 throws P0204 from high-pressure direct injector solenoid failure on cylinder 4, often appearing alo…
- 2008-2014VW/Audi 2.0T (EA888) Jetta, GTI, and A4 throws P0204 from high-pressure direct injector solenoid failure on cylinder 4, often appearing alongside P0301 misfire (VW TSB 24-13-01 covers updated injectors with revised o-rings);
- 2007-2013BMW N54 sets P0204 with cylinder 4 piezo injector cracking, addressed by the solenoid-injector retrofit;
- 2011-2016Ford 2.0L EcoBoost Focus ST and Escape fouls cylinder 4 GDI tips with carbon, especially on short-trip city use;
- 2002-2009Honda Civic D17/R18 fouls or clogs the cylinder 4 port injector and responds well to ultrasonic cleaning for $40 per injector.
Estimated repair$80 to $950.
Look up another code
P0204 — frequently asked
What does a P0204 code mean?
Cylinder 4 injector circuit fault.
What causes a P0204 code?
Common causes: Failed injector 4; Wiring.
What are the symptoms of a P0204 code?
Typical symptoms: Cyl 4 misfire; Check engine light.
Is it safe to drive with a P0204 code?
Not for long. Driving on this one risks further damage. Get it to a shop rather than carrying on with it. Estimated repair: $100-$500.
How do I diagnose a P0204 code?
Work from evidence to part, not the other way round. A code names a circuit or a symptom; it does not name the part that failed. 1. Note every code that is set, not just this one. 2. Read the freeze frame — the conditions the fault was recorded under. 3. Confirm the fault is current rather than history. 4. Then work the likely-causes list in the order shown.
More free tools