A a method for automatically controlling an internal combustion engine, in which an individual accumulator pressure (pE) of a common rail system is detected in a measurement interval and stored; in which an evaluation window is determined for the stored individual accumulation pressure (pE), within which window an injection was brought about; in which, in a first step, both a representative injection start and a trial injection end are determined in this evaluation window as a function of the detected pressure values, and, in a second step, both a trial injection start and a representative injection end are determined in this evaluation window as a function of the detected pressure values; in which the representative injection start is checked for plausibility against the trial injection start; and in which the representative injection end is checked for plausibility against the trial injection end.