What does it mean?
P1218 is a Powertrain (engine, transmission, fuel system) fault code. It indicates: Cylinder 6 Fuel Injection Circuit Short to B+ .
Symptoms
- Check engine lamp on, often together with misfire codes
- Rough, uneven idle with cylinder 6 clearly weak
- Rich mixture, black smoke and heavy fuel smell
- Oil level rising and smelling of fuel after a short period of running
- Poor starting, stumbling and reduced power
Likely causes
- Chafed or melted insulation letting the control wire touch a permanently live conductor
- Contaminated injector connector where oil or water bridges the two pins
- Injector shorted internally, so its supply is fed straight through to the control side
- Harness routed against a sharp bracket or trapped by a heat shield fastener
- Faulty repair or added wiring spliced into the injector circuit
- Module driver already destroyed, which can make the code return after every repair
How to fix it
- Read the freeze frame to see under what conditions the fault occurred
- Disconnect the injector and check the control wire for battery voltage with the ignition on
- Inspect the entire injector branch of the loom for chafe, crush and heat damage
- Clean and dry the connector and measure resistance between control and supply pins
- Ohm the injector and compare with the others; check winding to body and winding to supply insulation
- Repair the wiring, clear the codes and monitor the misfire counter on a road test
- If the code returns immediately with a proven good circuit and injector, test the module driver output