The traction rectifier plays a key role in high-speed trains. Unexpected failure often occurs in the sensors of the rectifier, which may affect the control performance of the electric traction rectifier and even cause serious deterioration to high-speed trains. A sensor fault diagnosis method is presented in this paper, considering three kinds of common fault types. It can not only locate the sensor fault, but also identify fault types. Based on the influences of the sensor faults, the fault diagnosis thresholds can be calculated quantitatively. No additional hardware is required. First, the model of the rectifier is established, and the estimator is built. The current residuals with different faults can be obtained. Next, residuals are analyzed and features are acquired. Then, diagnosis functions are constructed, which are used for fault location and fault type identification. Finally, the feasibility and effectiveness of the method have been confirmed by the experimental results.