OBD-II Code · Fuel & Air
P0268
Cylinder 3 Injector Circuit High
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.
Cyl 3 injector high voltage.
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
- Misfire cyl 3
- Check engine light
Likely causes
- Failed injectorMost common
- Wiring short to power
Read the full diagnostic procedureP0268 is the cylinder 3 variant of the injector-circuit-high family, the PCM expected to pull the driver line low during the commanded injection even…
P0268 is the cylinder 3 variant of the injector-circuit-high family, the PCM expected to pull the driver line low during the commanded injection event and instead saw the line remain at or near battery voltage, which means current is not flowing through the injector winding to ground through the PCM. The three viable root causes are an open injector coil, an open or broken driver wire between PCM and injector, or a short to power that masks the driver pulldown.
Start at the injector connector
measure winding resistance at room temperature (PFI 11.4-18 ohms, GDI 1.5-4 ohms, diesel solenoid 0.3-1.5 ohms), compare against the other cylinders, anything off by more than 15 percent is suspect. Confirm 12V on the feed side key-on, then jumper a noid light or known-good injector across the harness pins and crank, no flash means the driver circuit or PCM is the fault, a healthy flash exonerates the harness and points to the injector. Caveat on expensive misdiagnosis: on V6 and V8 platforms cylinder 3 often lives under an intake manifold or valve cover that has to come off for access, do not authorize a $400-600 manifold-off injector R&R until you have actually ohmed the injector through the harness and isolated the fault to the injector itself, a wiring fault upstream means you tear the engine down for nothing.
Vehicle-specific patterns2001-2004 Toyota Tacoma/4Runner 3.4L (5VZ-FE) has a known cylinder 3 injector harness rub against the upper intake plenum bracket, the chafe shorts t…
- 2001-2004Toyota Tacoma/4Runner 3.4L (5VZ-FE) has a known cylinder 3 injector harness rub against the upper intake plenum bracket, the chafe shorts the driver to plenum ground intermittently;
- 2011-2014Ford F-150 3.5L EcoBoost first-gen sees cylinder 3 injector failures from carbon-soaked tips loading the winding, TSB 14-0194 covers the cleaning procedure and updated injector part number;
- 2005-2009Subaru Legacy/Outback 2.5L EJ253 throws P0268 when the under-manifold injector sub-harness connector fills with oil from a leaking valve cover gasket and shorts internally.
Estimated repair$220 to $1,100.
Look up another code
P0268 — frequently asked
What does a P0268 code mean?
Cyl 3 injector high voltage.
What causes a P0268 code?
Common causes: Failed injector; Wiring short to power.
What are the symptoms of a P0268 code?
Typical symptoms: Misfire cyl 3; Check engine light.
Is it safe to drive with a P0268 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 P0268 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.
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