oxygen sensor trouble

[89supracrazy]

I have the 3 wire oxygen sensor and it is acting up. I have followed the tsrm and with the te1 and e1 jumpered at 2500 rpms it seems that my vf reading on my safc II will only fluctuates maybe 4 times and quit. I know it says to use a analog meter but I am doing the same thing watching my vf on my safc. My question is how long is a oxygen sensor good for and what type do I need to get to replace mine. I have read about the denso from rock auto. It says it is universal, but you have to splice your wires. It will not plug up to the factory harness. Let me know what kind to get and where to get it. If they is any other route that I should take, let me know.

 

[jetjock]

A sensor that's not abused can live to 75-100K miles but they can be killed by lots of things. One common cause is silicated coolant or using non-sensor safe silicone sealing products.

Although Vf does show sensor cross counting under those conditions it's still an emulation. Use the raw data at OX instead. And you really should open the loop before condemning a sensor. If you're unable to drive the sensor fully both ways using the usual methods (snap throttle test, artificial enrichment, etc) check it off the car using a propane torch.

Any three wire sensor that you can mount in there will work but technically speaking you should use OEM/Denso. There's a difference in response time due to the flute design but I'm splitting hairs. If you go with something else simply splice the connector on.

An analog meter isn't required. In fact most won't work on OX as they have too low an input impedance. They can be used on Vf however.

Fwiw studies shows O2 sensors are one of the the most needlessly changed parts on cars...

 

[89supracrazy]

I have read about the oxygen sensor and I checked the ox at the diagnostic block. I know it is real low voltage. Ok. Here we go. It reads 0v at idle and when I turn my safc II to about 15+ it will go to around .800 mv and jump to .300 mv. It is always fluctuating. That is with the ox. When I test the count by the tsrm cold it does 8 good but when it warms up the count becomes 4. The oxygen sensor probably never has been changed before I got the car. When the car is running and I unplug the oxygen sensor the check engine light will not come on. If I leave it unplugged and turn the car off and re-crank the check engine light comes on. If you unplug the oxygen sensor when the vehicles is warm what should the vf reading be.


I have looked up your post on the propane torch JJ. That is cool. I never knew you could check the o2 sensor that way and also you said it would clean it also.