OBD-II Code · Fuel & Air
P0274
Cylinder 5 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)
$35–$480
Varies by vehicle, diagnosis, parts, and local labor. This is not a repair quote.
Cyl 5 injector driver reads high (open circuit or broken winding).
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 5
- Check engine light
Likely causes
- Open injector windingMost common
- Harness chafe at valve cover
Read the full diagnostic procedureP0274 indicates the PCM detected an electrical fault on the cylinder 5 injector driver circuit reading high voltage, which typically means the circui…
P0274 indicates the PCM detected an electrical fault on the cylinder 5 injector driver circuit reading high voltage, which typically means the circuit is open or the driver is not pulling the line to ground when it should.
Start with the cheapest test
swap injector 5 with a known-good injector from another cylinder (most commonly cylinder 1 or 7) and clear codes; if the code follows the injector you have a bad solenoid winding. If it stays on cylinder 5, back-probe the injector connector and measure winding resistance, which should read 11 to 17 ohms on a port-injection (PFI) coil-type injector and 1.5 to 4 ohms on a GDI solenoid type at 68F. Next, key-on engine-off, check that the 12V supply side of the connector reads battery voltage and that the driver wire shows the PCM pulling it low briefly during a cylinder contribution test; expected injector pulse width at warm idle is 2.5 to 4.5 milliseconds on a port-injected V8 and 0.3 to 0.6 ms on GDI. Caveat: never probe the driver wire with a test light powered from B+, because that backfeeds the PCM driver and can permanently kill the channel; use a noid light or scope only.
Vehicle-specific patterns2004 to 2008 Ford F-150 5.4L 3V triton trucks often set P0274 from chafed injector harness where the engine wiring loom rubs the right-side valve cov…
- 2004to 2008 Ford F-150 5.4L 3V triton trucks often set P0274 from chafed injector harness where the engine wiring loom rubs the right-side valve cover stud, repaired by re-routing and adding spiral wrap;
- 2005to 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7L Hemi has a known cracked solder joint inside the injector connector body documented in TSB 18-040-07 for the original Bosch injectors;
- 2007to 2013 GM 5.3L LMG/LC9 trucks suffer driver-side bank 2 harness melt near the exhaust manifold heat shield.
Estimated repair$35 to $480.
Look up another code
P0274 — frequently asked
What does a P0274 code mean?
Cyl 5 injector driver reads high (open circuit or broken winding).
What causes a P0274 code?
Common causes: Open injector winding; Harness chafe at valve cover.
What are the symptoms of a P0274 code?
Typical symptoms: Misfire cyl 5; Check engine light.
Is it safe to drive with a P0274 code?
Not for long. Driving on this one risks further damage. Get it to a shop rather than carrying on with it. Estimated repair: $35-$480.
How do I diagnose a P0274 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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