any takers on this?

 

test the voltage. generally is should be around .200 -.800 millivolts alternating. then u have to test the reaction time, but u cant do it with a volt meter.

 

You can hook it up to the TPS wire if you have a VAFC and read the voltages via that.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by blueeg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">test the voltage. generally is should be around .200 -.800 millivolts alternating. then u have to test the reaction time, but u cant do it with a volt meter.</TD></TR></TABLE>

You can do it with a volt meter that has a "analog" meter ont he bottem that scrolls left to right.. Or better yet an analog volt meter..hehe

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Oh Crap &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You can do it with a volt meter that has a "analog" meter ont he bottem that scrolls left to right</TD></TR></TABLE>

But can the analog display on a digital meter update fast enough to show a true representation of the actual switching speed of the O2 (this is whats important, the switching speed)?

 

If i'm desperate to check an 02 sensor, then yes I'd use the analog display on a dvom. But since we have a snap-on vantage DSO, we use that. But 90% of the time when I'm diagnosing an 02 problem, I check if the 02 can reach .80 of a volt. If it is able to reach .80 of a volt, more than likely the 02 sensor is good. It's rare for me to see a bad sensor reaching .80 with out being good. A bit redundant eh?

But anyways as you were saying about the refresh rate of the dvom.. the analog meter on an analog meter..probably wouldn't work either.

 

Assuming it is a 4 wire, get the heater up and running and put a digital Voltmeter on the Nerst Cell leads. Get a good old bernz-o-matic and slowly roast the end of the sensor holding it near horizontal. When you get things glowing a dull red, and heat it nice and slowly from a distance, while you keep turning the sensor like a hot dog, .. to keep from thermally shocking the sensor, now move in with the torch and "flash" the flame back and forth with the inner deep blue tip of the flame going into the sensor. Wave the flame back and forth over the sensor tip. It should switch lean with the flame away and immediately rich when the deep blue tip strikes it. Stoich is "somewhere" in between.

Good luck. If its sluggish at temperature its bad. It should switch in like 80-120 mSeconds. The voltage should range from 0.25 volts or less to 0.75 volts or more.