P2288: Injector Control Pressure Too High
What to do
Expect harsh running, black smoke and poor economy. Worth attending to rather than living with — the injectors are being driven harder than they were designed for on every cycle, and they are among the more expensive parts on this kind of engine. The pressure regulator is the usual cause.
What this code means
Injection control pressure is genuinely above what was commanded — the pressure is real, not a sensor reading it wrongly.
On a system where the module controls pressure by bleeding off what it does not want, too much pressure means the release path is not working. The regulator is the part that does that job, and a regulator stuck towards closed holds more pressure than asked for at every operating point.
The consequence is over-injection: more force behind each injection event than intended, so more fuel is delivered than the module calculated. That shows as a rough, harsh-running engine, black smoke, and poor economy — and it is hard on the injectors, which are being driven beyond their design pressure on every cycle.
Worth distinguishing from the sensor codes above: those describe a circuit the module cannot believe; this one describes a system doing something real and wrong.
Likely causes
Start here
- Faulty injection pressure regulator · moderate
- Regulator return path restricted · moderate
Less common
- Faulty injection control pressure sensor · moderate
- Damaged wiring to the pressure regulator · moderate
Rare
- Faulty engine control module · specialist
Symptoms
Components involved
Information, not instruction
CarGeek is a reference, not a service manual. Its pages are written from public sources and from what other people have found, never from a manufacturer's own service information, so they can be wrong or incomplete for your particular vehicle. Some of what they describe carries real risk: high voltage, fuel under pressure, stored energy, hot and moving parts.
Have anything you intend to act on checked by a trained person against the manufacturer's own procedure for your vehicle. Nothing here replaces that procedure.
Community experience
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