OBD-II Code · Fuel & Air
P0291
Cylinder 11 Injector Circuit Low
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)
$180–$2,400
Varies by vehicle, diagnosis, parts, and local labor. This is not a repair quote.
V12-only · cyl 11 injector shorted.
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 11
- Check engine light
Likely causes
- Shorted GDI injectorMost common
- IDM channel failure
Read the full diagnostic procedureP0291 sets on V12 engines only and indicates the cylinder 11 injector circuit is reading low (short to ground or internally shorted winding).
P0291 sets on V12 engines only and indicates the cylinder 11 injector circuit is reading low (short to ground or internally shorted winding).
Cheapest first
- swap injector 11 with a known-good neighbor and clear codes; on Mercedes M275/M279 and BMW N74 these are GDI high-pressure solenoid injectors that ohm at 1.5 to 4 ohms cold, with shorted windings reading under 1 ohm.
- On Lamborghini L539 and Ferrari V12 platforms the injectors are also GDI in modern years (post-2011) and follow the same range.
- With the connector unplugged and key on, the driver-side pin should be open to ground; continuity to chassis ground confirms a harness short.
- Caveat: BMW N74 and Mercedes M275/M279 use separate injector driver modules; a failing IDM channel will set cylinder-specific low codes with no harness or injector fault, and the modules are bank-specific so swapping the bank-1 and bank-2 IDMs is a near-free diagnostic if you can access them.
Vehicle-specific patterns2003 to 2014 Mercedes-Benz S600/SL600/CL600 M275/M279 twin-turbo V12 has known HDEV-5/HDEV-6 injector winding failures and IDM channel weakness aroun…
- 2003to 2014 Mercedes-Benz S600/SL600/CL600 M275/M279 twin-turbo V12 has known HDEV-5/HDEV-6 injector winding failures and IDM channel weakness around 80k to 120k miles;
- 2009to 2015 BMW 760i N74 V12 has documented injector driver module faults per BMW service bulletin SI B12 09 13;
- 2011to 2017 Lamborghini Aventador L539 V12 has cracked injector connectors from sustained underhood heat.
Estimated repair$180 to $2,400.
Look up another code
P0291 — frequently asked
What does a P0291 code mean?
V12-only · cyl 11 injector shorted.
What causes a P0291 code?
Common causes: Shorted GDI injector; IDM channel failure.
What are the symptoms of a P0291 code?
Typical symptoms: Misfire cyl 11; Check engine light.
Is it safe to drive with a P0291 code?
Not for long. Driving on this one risks further damage. Get it to a shop rather than carrying on with it. Estimated repair: $180-$2,400.
How do I diagnose a P0291 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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