I threw a o2 code last night, im just wondering, can i clean it up for the weekend and get a new one monday or when i have time? and if so how do i go about it? i heard certain things can damage it...

 

usually when you draw an O2 sensor CEL its because the heating element in the Oxygen sensor has gone bad. the O2 sensors must be hot for them to get a proper reading and when they get old the heating elements just go bad and youre stuck buying a new one. its not really a matter of the sensors being dirty or needing cleaned like is the case in a few other sensor malfunctions.

now when you buy a new one, the universal ones usually dont last as long but are cheaper than the OEM ones (which usually last a few years longer). Oxygen sensors suck ***** really.

 

the car doesnt have a ton of miles on it 74000 on it, the previous motor was dumping an insane amount of oil out the exhaust, like 4 quarts a week, i was told that sometimes it could gum up the o2 sensor, and you could somehow clean it up and make it last awhile longer, i just bought a new axel and had the car tuned this month so until my next check comes i gotta wait a couple days. Is there anything i can try in the meantime?

 

actually this guy on another forum told me that he cleaned his O2 with WD-40 and that fixed his CEL.

I think you should try to clean it and if it doesn't work then just buy a new one. I found one site that sells some with the harness but it's not oem. It's like 80 bucks brand new, a lot cheaper than OEM.

i'll try to find the link.

 

yeah def no harm done by trying to clean the O2 sensor, esp if you speculate that there were problems that could cause it to gunk...

 

I had thrown the slow response on the primary O2 sensor for more than a year. I took the sensor off and noticed significant carbon build up on it. I dipped it in Seafoam and brushed it with a toothbrush then dried it with compressed air. Put in back in and haven't had that code since (few months as compared to once every week or two).

It has also worked on my Mazda for probably 6 months now.

 

Take it out and burn all that buildup off with a small propane torch, heat it up till it just starts to turn red. No chemicals! You'd be wasting your money buying a new one if the car burns that much oil.

 

propane torch huh.....you sure it's ok cause I gotta do something this weekend with my CEL.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MNsnowdaboy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">propane torch huh.....you sure it's ok cause I gotta do something this weekend with my CEL.</TD></TR></TABLE>

yup, just dont get it so hot that it turns cherry red for too long.