oxygen sensors

polo4o

Member
is there really a difference between the universal ones and the oem ones. i alwasys had the oem ones but i im thinking of buying the cheaper unversal ones
 
The only advnatage to using an OEM replacement is that it will be furnished with the proper connector. The generic units will work the same, but will be supplied with bare wire ends requiring you to remove the connector from your old sensor and splice the wires with the new sensor.
 
Do people normally buy the bare wire version? I'm planning on getting a pair to help with my gas mileage and the bare wire version is only like $25 each. Can I just take out the old one and cut the wires and solder that connector on the new wires? Is there anything bad in doing that? I'm not an expert in soldering, it's gets it done but I usually end up covering the wires with electrical tape after.

Is there anything else I need to know about changing my o2 sensor? No light went off in my dash, just thought I'd change it and see what happens.
 
if there is nothing wrong with the o2 sensors (read: no CEL codes) there really is no reason or benefit to changing them out. i myself prefer using the OEM part despite the added cost. i've read both good and bad things here about using universal sensors and while they could be attributed to poor wiring on the part of the installer, i personally don't have the time or patience to fiddle with something like that.
 
Well I've got one universal bosch as my second o2 sensor and as far as I know I did the wiring correctly. Wasnt to hard and I like the covering that it has which seems pretty water tight. Didn't get a CEL either. Only problem I'm having is I seem to be getting less gas mileage. It could be because I do short 10 minute trips mainly, cause I still get a nice 28mpg on long 3-4 hour highway drives.

***EDIT****
if its only $25 I say go with the universal try it out and if you have any problems with it just go out and get the OEM one.
 
Captain KRM P5 said:
if there is nothing wrong with the o2 sensors (read: no CEL codes) there really is no reason or benefit to changing them out. i myself prefer using the OEM part despite the added cost. i've read both good and bad things here about using universal sensors and while they could be attributed to poor wiring on the part of the installer, i personally don't have the time or patience to fiddle with something like that.

ken how much areyour oem direct replacement because my primary 02 sensor is acting upand I keep getting CELs. it goes on for a day then off, stays off for 2 days comes right back. P0131 is the code.
 
Huascar82 said:
Well I've got one universal bosch as my second o2 sensor and as far as I know I did the wiring correctly. Wasnt to hard and I like the covering that it has which seems pretty water tight. Didn't get a CEL either. Only problem I'm having is I seem to be getting less gas mileage. It could be because I do short 10 minute trips mainly, cause I still get a nice 28mpg on long 3-4 hour highway drives.

***EDIT****
if its only $25 I say go with the universal try it out and if you have any problems with it just go out and get the OEM one.

i doubt your milage has anything to do with your second oxygen sensor. the fueling mixture is monitored by the front sensor. the second one is there mainly to monitor the cat.
 
I just replaced both of my O2 sensors with the Denso Universals and they seem to be working fine. No CEL. I chose Denso because that was the stock brand when I got the car. Also, you could probably get them a little bit cheaper if you get them straight from the manufacturers web site. They were pretty easy to install. All you had to do was strip the wires and then crimp on a connector piece. I also wrapped them in some tape. Thats about it.
 
njaremka said:
i doubt your milage has anything to do with your second oxygen sensor. the fueling mixture is monitored by the front sensor. the second one is there mainly to monitor the cat.

bingo
 
I've been reading about the o2 sensors and im confused about which sensors are number 1 and 2? Is the number one sensor the one on the header?
 
number 1 is the one before the cat, the closest to the engine, number 2 is after the cat, you see it and access it from under the car.
 
yea the universal was a waste of money. atleast in my case. connected it and my checkengine light still stayed on. reset the computer and the check light went out. as soon as i started the car it came back on. hooked up the diagnostic tester and got an unknown error code "car ok to drive"... haha the car was not ok. drove it a few blocks and started to stall. started and stalled again. darn thing couldnt even idle. luckily made it back to my frenz shop and trouble shooted and reset the computer again. same unknown error code. so i figured it must be the o2 sensor. sure enough i unplugged it and the car idled perfectly. bosch universal o2 sensor doesnt work, well it actually does work according to the diagnostic tester. but it doesnt work properly. hope this helps cuz it costed me $65 to learn this lesson.
polo4o said:
is there really a difference between the universal ones and the oem ones. i alwasys had the oem ones but i im thinking of buying the cheaper unversal ones
 

New Threads and Articles

Back