varanidguy

Hey guys. I'm new to these forums and a first time Honda owner. I guess I'll cut to the chase. I have a 1987 Honda CRX 1.5 HF. The o2 sensor has never been changed on this thing from what I can tell and so I bought a new o2 sensor to put in. It's the one on the exhaust manifold right in front of the oil dip stick.

Here's my issue: where it plugs in (the wiring harness) is under the distributor cap and is in a tiny little space where it's almost impossible to even get my fingers back there, let alone have enough space to actually work. Does anybody out there have a diagram or detailed instructions on how to replace this particular o2 sensor properly? Anybody have any suggestions? I'd hate to have to take the whole thing apart just to be able to plug in a dang o2 sensor. I was told I could possibly splice the wire but it's really easy to screw up so I'd like to avoid that route. It's a single wire sensor.

-Shane

varanidguy

Also, if need be, I can take some pictures.

letank

How many miles on that gem.... Basically if it passes smog, there is no need to change the O2 sensor.

I went that route for no real reason that I suspected that it needed replacement. Check some posts about my 86 where it is was mentioned that some O2 sensor are not as good as the Original Equipment Manufacturer... aka OEM.

The best way is to remove the shield around the fuel pump -you have a carb model right?- The connector can be reached and it is hard to explain without a pict, you need to slide a small screwdriver inside the tang that hold the connector secure to release it to open. I think that I spare one somewhere and can take a picture. You also have 2 style of connectors, some O2 are male and some are female, this is why I got the universal and did a splice as I could not find the right gender.....

varanidguy

Thank you for the reply It has approximately 264k miles on it. It's having poor mileage issues and the o2 sensor looks really old like it's never been replaced. The hoses look great, I just used Sea Foam in the carb and fuel tank and the idle issues seem to have gone away. But when driving on the highway at higher speeds, when I exit and park, I can smell fuel like the mix that's going into the carb is really rich. Spoke with a technician and he suggested that it could be the o2 sensor not mixing fuel properly.

I'll check your posts Again, thanks a lot for the reply!

letank

Smelling gas can be a lot of things with 264Kmiles.... fuel line at the gas tank.... charcoal canister.... float level or needle valve.

Start with the easy stuff, how are the spark plugs... black or tan? worn out or newer.... and are they the right specs, ND or NGK, I have found that cross referenced plug do not necessarily work well.

Found that O2 sensor connector, will post pict later.

varanidguy

I replaced the spark plugs, NGK plugs. And wires. Another problem I'm having is when I start the car, the RPM's jump to about 2500 then climb from there. If I tap the gas, they will go down, but the car will go down to 0 RPM's and die unless I allow the RPM's to climb above 3k before tapping the gas pedal. Also, the idle RPM's sits at about 1500...seems kinda high to me. I also need to pump the gas pedal 4 or 5 times before start up for the car to actually start up and stay on.

letank

Here is the pict of the connector under the fuel pump. The video takes too long to download at the moment, will put it later.

https://picasaweb.google.com/jeepmr/...97582013043506

If you need to pull the connector off the mounting tab, you need to put the screwdriver on the under side and slide it to squeeze the little plastic notch.

As for the rpm, this is about what I have 2500-3000 rpm, but when I tap it right away nothing happens as the engine is cold.... after 1 min or so tapping will make it go down to 1500-2000rpm, but I only need to pump the gas once. The carb gasket or insulator was known to be leaky when cold... we had the same thing with the wagon after the warranty expired... so being in Cal we lived with it.... it was never too cold to fail in the early morning hours.

varanidguy

Good to know. I'm in California as well, Riverside actually. Thanks for all the help! I'll post updates.

letank

Here we go for the video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZpqYZGLO8w

varanidguy

Awesome! Thank you, it's the part I was suspecting. That clears a lot of things up. I'm going to be working on it today, I'll post with an update. That thing is a pain in the *** to get to!

varanidguy

So, I got the old one out, the wiring harness was odd. The part actually going into the car was male instead of female and the replacement part had male instead of female. So, I took the female end off the old sensor (that had been spliced three times, for what reason, I don't know) and took the male end off the new sensor and swapped them. Well, turns out I need to chase the threads in the manifold and don't have the tool for that (yet) and will be getting the tool for that tomorrow and hopefully (fingers crossed) be installing the new part tomorrow.

letank

Same here this is why I got the universal sensor, when I realized that the replacement was the wrong gender! I cut the wire close enough to the sensor and with 2 layers of shrink tubing use the clip on attachment.

varanidguy

Yep, I pretty much did the same thing. Rather than clipping the wire, though, I just took the end apart and used the already existing parts and connectors. Got it all together and it seems to have done the trick. Took it for a long drive and the needle for the gas didn't even move, really. Took it on a drive that I know before would have destroyed the gas. Rethreaded the manifold with no issues. Talked to a Honda shop and they would have wanted like $400 to rethread the manifold, bought a $10 tool and did it myself with no issues! All-in-all, the job was a bigger pain in the *** than it should have been but it's done and everything seems to be in order. Thank you for all your help, sir. It is greatly appreciated

StreetsideStig

That happened to me last weekend with the upstream o2 sensor for my '90 Accord. I almost did a wire splice, but just exchanged it at the parts store. I didn't want to screw anything up. I drove around a while without the sensor in. If you're thinking that it probably sounded like a dying airplane, you're right. It did.