A method for operating an internal combustion engine with a motor having a number of cylinders and an injection system having a common rail with a number of injectors assigned to the cylinders and similar high pressure components, which is designed to hold fuel from the common rail for the injector, wherein the method has the steps: injecting fuel from the common rail into a cylinder by way of an injector, determining a fuel pressure for a high-pressure component, in particular the common rail, the injector and/or the individual reservoir, having at least one high-pressure sensor measuring the fuel pressure. Provision is made for a defect in the high-pressure sensor to be detected in that a check is made as to whether magnitude of the high-pressure control deviation (ep) during a predetermined time interval (tLimit1SD, tLimit2SD, tLimit3SD) exceeds a predetermined limiting value (eLimit1SD, eLimit2SD, eLimit3SD).