unhappy_idle

Honda Accord 1988 LX ( 2.0L carb, 4 cylinder A/T) seems extremely sluggish.

Fuel filter changed,
New Air Fitler and breather filter
New spark plug and spark plug wires.
New muffler assembly


To the best of my knowledge the oxygen sensor has never been replaced. The car is
at 155,000_ miles. Would changing the Oxygen sensor make a difference?

I did pass emissions last yeat without any problem, but the car does seem worse now than then. Is there any way to test an Oxygen sensor.

razorskater

You can test the sensor using a multimeter. I don' know the actual Ohm's you are looking for but a bad O2 sensor will read infinite resistance on the meter while a good one will give you an actual reading. Just connect the multimeter to the wires at the plastic clip. Hope that helps and someone can give you the actual Ohm's your looking for.

JimBlake

If it's a heated O2 sensor, the built-in HEATER should read 15 to 40 ohms.

Heated or unheated, the sensing element will read open circuit when it's at room temperature. It has to be hot (1000 degrees?) before it starts working.

One test is to tap the signal wire when the car's warmed up & idling (the signal wire needs to stay hooked up). The voltage should swing back & forth between 0.2 & 0.8 volts or something like that. It's easier to see with an analog meter, because digital values will just blink randomly.

A sensor normally goes bad by getting sluggish. So if it swings back & forth several times per second it's OK. If it swings slowly then it's going bad.