P0261Cylinder 1 Injector A Circuit Low
- Generic OBD-II code · Powertrain
- Turns on the check-engine light
- Matters for the ITP
- Can trigger limp mode
- How the car detects it
- P0261 means the control wire of the cylinder 1 injector – the side the engine module switches to ground – is shorted to ground. GM detects this with the driver off: on direct injection at 1 V or less, on port injection and Duramax diesels at 0.5 Ω or less to ground. Ford's 6.7 diesel has its driver chip report the short within 0.3 s. Most systems switch the warning light on in the first trip (some GM port-injection engines and Saab's 2.0 turbo after two) and shut the affected injector off, so the cylinder misfires. Ford petrol engines report all injector circuit faults as P0201 ff instead.
- What you may notice
- Check engine light on
- Misfire and rough running, misfire code P0301
- Loss of power, rough idle
- Injector shut off, limp mode possible on diesels
- Likely causes
- LikelyControl wire of the cylinder 1 injector chafed to ground in the harness
- PossibleInjector connector damp or corroded, leakage to ground
- PossibleInjector shorted to its housing internally
- RareOpen control wire (on some GM port-injection drivers this also reads low; P020x sets too)
- RareDriver stage in the engine module faulty
- Inspection (ITP)
- Matters for the ITP. While the check-engine light is on, the car fails the emissions check.
- Repair
- Medium · Often possible to do yourself.Typical cost: €50 – €800
- Related codes
Explanation from obdex (CC0), exactly as the app shows it. Guidance only; confirm with a workshop.