02 Sensor Stuck

[Zrxpilot]

Found the origin of my fuse blowing issue. One of the drivers side front 02 sensor wires was stripped bare and arcing on the insulation packing. Now trying to get the damn thing out. Got the whole unit on the bench (header collector past the flex pipe)..

The sensor is stuck in there like a ****. Tried an impact with a penetrating oil, a little heat...now I got a rounded off sensor bolt. Looks like I am cutting off this whole damn **** and putting a new one on. Ugh. At least I found it. Needed to get at this to fix an exhaust leak anyways.

 

[Jack B]

Found the origin of my fuse blowing issue. One of the drivers side front 02 sensor wires was stripped bare and arcing on the insulation packing. Now trying to get the damn thing out. Got the whole unit on the bench (header collector past the flex pipe)..

The sensor is stuck in there like a ****. Tried an impact with a penetrating oil, a little heat...now I got a rounded off sensor bolt. Looks like I am cutting off this whole damn **** and putting a new one on. Ugh. At least I found it. Needed to get at this to fix an exhaust leak anyways.

There are actually several O2 removal tools available. They take the form of a hex split socket, this reduces the chances of rounding the hex. The angle that O2 sensor rests at does not allow us to get a wrench squarely on the hex. Can you get a pipe wrench on the O2 sensor?

With a little hindsight, for trouble shooting it makes it kind of easy:

1. An open #15 fuse (20A) indicates the possibility of bad front O2 wiring.

2. An open #1 fuse (15A) means bad rear O2 wiring. There is also a chance that the rear O2 circuits could blow both the 15A and 20A fuses since they are in series.

 

[Zrxpilot]

^ This makes total sense and was a hunch that lead me to the front of the car. At first I assumed I had an early 97 without the split circuit as there is no large 15 amp fuses. When I took the box apart to confirm integrity of the wiring I see where the wire split from the large 20 amp to the little 15amp #1 identified as rear 02 (duh). It wasnt blown so it made sense to chase the front wiring. Your explaination was smack on. Thank you.

 

[SNKEBIT]

Doesn't that thing have headers?

 

[Zrxpilot]

^Yes but have no idea what kind it is. Looks just like the header system being talked about in the recent e-bay thread. Everything is stainless and 3" od past the headers. Found a solid set of borla muffelers under the side sill when I took it off tonight. It looks like it was a nice exhaust at one time, too bad everything looks so shabby now. Was thinking of having everything blasted and ceramic coated.

 

[dave6666]

Ahh. Stainless steel. Shiny, and self welding when threads gall from no anti-seize. Yep, weld a new **** in. Your old **** is married to a sensor for life it looks like. And use anti-seize on the new one.

 

[Jack B]

Ahh. Stainless steel. Shiny, and self welding when threads gall from no anti-seize. Yep, weld a new **** in. Your old **** is married to a sensor for life it looks like. And use anti-seize on the new one.

I had one that was similar. It was a little different, I had installed a **** for a wideband and temporarily installed the plug that came with the ****. This is a bit different, but, the sample technique applies. I drilled the plug very close to the **** ID. I barely nicked the **** threads. It is amazing how it welded in place in the span of a month. Obviously this was all done out of the car. In the case of an O2 sensor I would use a cutoff wheel and remove the sensor 1/2 inch above the ****. You want to keep enough material above the **** so that you can grip it with pliers once you have it drilled close to the **** diameter