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Posted by euphoria on Aug-06-2004 15:18:

Car Question....

Car Question......
My oxygen sensor is hanging from the bottom of my car and I am still driving it. How bad is this for my car and can it cause any other damage. The car is really loud and the check engine light it on, but it still does drive. I cant get it fixed till saturday. If there anything I can do temporarily. I climber under there and can figure out where the damn thing fell out of. Also I now understand why women dont repair cars. There is not much room for boobs under there


Posted by th0m on Aug-06-2004 15:27:

Re: Car Question....

quote:
Originally posted by EyesOfExtasy
Also I now understand why women dont repair cars. There is not much room for boobs under there


LOL!!

ontopic: I know fuck all about cars.


Posted by Boomer187 on Aug-06-2004 15:53:

how the hell do you know its an oxygen sensor???


plus where did it pop out of? I think there is one that runs into your catalytic convertor, and one in your engine block....


if its a 4 cyllinder then they are kind close together. so it could be hard to tell. but what I usually do is get underneath and see how the wire is.....gah this is tough to explain.


basically the plug has been there for so long that it kinda hardens in the right position, so if you move it around by where it looks like it shoudl go, you will find the right place to plug it in.




is that specific enough for you :-P




and you won't die if it not in the catalytic....although your car may run like shit if its not in th eengine.......






btw, I haven't looked at a car engine in over 1 year.....so I am probably wrong...


Posted by euphoria on Aug-06-2004 16:00:

quote:
Originally posted by Boomer187
how the hell do you know its an oxygen sensor???


plus where did it pop out of? I think there is one that runs into your catalytic convertor, and one in your engine block....


if its a 4 cyllinder then they are kind close together. so it could be hard to tell. but what I usually do is get underneath and see how the wire is.....gah this is tough to explain.


basically the plug has been there for so long that it kinda hardens in the right position, so if you move it around by where it looks like it shoudl go, you will find the right place to plug it in.




is that specific enough for you :-P




and you won't die if it not in the catalytic....although your car may run like shit if its not in th eengine.......






btw, I haven't looked at a car engine in over 1 year.....so I am probably wrong...


I know its the oxygen sensor because I do know a bit about cars. The check engine light was on long before the sensor fell out. Its is hanging from the middle center of the bottom of the car a bit away from the muffler line. It is a 4 cylinder. The car is running like shit and its sounds like it has one of those fireball mufflers on it but its doesnt.


Posted by xGirlx on Aug-06-2004 16:02:

First off, don't bring it to a shop to fix if it is the O2 sensor. It's much cheaper picking one at your local automotive shop and doing it yourself. It's very easy to replace.

Good luck.


Posted by Boomer187 on Aug-06-2004 16:04:

jack up yer car, crawl underneath and plug it back in. hopefulyl its not damaged.


its been so long since i worked on an engine, I replaced one last year and I changed all the sensors. but I can't remember shit.

i think all your gonna do is make it run weak. if it will cause further damage......just plug it back in :P

so thats all I got.


Posted by euphoria on Aug-06-2004 16:06:

quote:
Originally posted by xGirlx
First off, don't bring it to a shop to fix if it is the O2 sensor. It's much cheaper picking one at your local automotive shop and doing it yourself. It's very easy to replace.

Good luck.


I dont really have a shop or the tools to do much of anything for the car. I was just hoping it was something that fell out and I could stick it back in. My friends father owns a shop and I am bringing the car by on Sat to fix my axle so I might as well have him to it as well. I just wanted to know how bad it is that I am still driving it like this.


Posted by FederalBI on Aug-06-2004 16:36:

my suggestion goto a garage instead of asking trance addicts questions about cars :O


Posted by Orbax on Aug-06-2004 17:18:

The O2 sensor tells your car how rich or lean to run your mixture. Constantly driving it with no 02 will usually result in decreased responsiveness and a messed up gas consumption ratio. Lots of times the ECU has to be remapped because it gets so messed up. Good thing is that when you fix it the ECU does eventually relearn to drive normally. i like ECU flashes though.

All in all, dont worry about it, theyll fix it. and if you take the advice and swap in your own 02, itll fix itself eventually as well. Id let pros do it though, cuz they usually run a diagnostic to make sure nothing else is wrong because of that.


Posted by Hawk240 on Aug-06-2004 17:26:

Yeah like the guy above me said, the O2 censor basicly tells the car how much gas to throw at itself. Without one you're either running very rich (not so much a bad thing) or very lean (can cause your engine to die due to not enough gasoline going through it). An O2 censor is very easy to fix, and also pretty damn cheap (all of $45-$60). If it's the one on your header/cat pop the hood and take off your heat shield if you have one, or if it's in the way of getting at the censor. Screw it back in, and becareful not to crush it if you're using a tool! Basicly for my 240SX (I'm RWD so it's a bit easier to get at things under the hood sometimes!) it's right on the right side of the engine bay nice and easy to get at, when the heat sheild was still on my header I was even still able to get at it. Honestly it should be a pretty damn easy fix for you. Although before driving your car much, make sure it's running rich rather than lean. If you can smell gasoline, see alot of smoke comming from the exhaust, or see gasoline comming out of your exhaust, you're running a rich. If you see/smell none of these, you're most likely running lean! By the way, what type of car is this


Posted by EarnYourKeep on Aug-06-2004 17:39:

yup you'll need the ecu reflashed and probably a new o2 sensor. the o2 sensor you should be able to replace by yourself, if i remember correctly its pnp. orbax is right the ecu will relearn itself once the o2 sensor is back in, but you will notice a significant bog period...your a/f ratio will vary. use ur tripometer to gauge the gas consumption and run it against the factory mpg per tank!


Posted by getfoul on Aug-06-2004 19:41:

It's been said before and I'll say it again. You can do the o2 sensor (or Lambda sensor as it's referred to on many import vehicles) yourself, but if you do, do NOT touch the tip that goes into the exhaust stream. As this gets oils from your fingers onto a very sensitive part of the part. Put anti-sieze on the threads, that should come with the sensor.

And a brief but accurate definition of what the o2 sensor does:
Oxygen sensors produce an amount of voltage based on the amount of oxygen in the exhaust. Large amounts of oxygen result from very lean mixtures and result in low voltage output from the o2 sensor. Rich mixtures release lower amounts of oxygen into the exhaust, therefor the o2 sensor voltage is high.

The rearward o2 sensor measures Catalytic converter efficiency. By testing the oxygen levels before *coming out of the engine* and after the cat *before the muffler* you can see how well your emissions control devices are working. The o2 sensor wil vary between rich and lean mixture to give your engine it's highest fuel economy, best performance, and cleanest burning possible.



If the rear sensor is out, your car is not able to correctly adjust for the engines circumstances and i gaurantee the check engine light has a code for the downstream o2 sensor failure.

Just have your dad's friend install the new one, it's quick and cheap. He'll also look to see if there is a reason why it fell out, and fix that if necessary.


Posted by TeKnoHe@d2025 on Aug-06-2004 22:51:

quote:
Originally posted by Boomer187
I think there is one that runs into your catalytic convertor, and one in your engine block....


Not all cars have 2 O2 sensors, and they're not all in the same location. The stock location of the O2 sensor on my 90 Integra is on the end of the exhaust manifold. On the 92-93 Integra they moved it to the end of the header pipe so it reads from all four cylinders. Some have one or two in the cat convertor and some cats even have air tubes on them. It all varies between cars really.


Posted by getfoul on Aug-06-2004 23:04:

quote:
Originally posted by TeKnoHe@d2025
Not all cars have 2 O2 sensors, and they're not all in the same location. The stock location of the O2 sensor on my 90 Integra is on the end of the exhaust manifold. On the 92-93 Integra they moved it to the end of the header pipe so it reads from all four cylinders. Some have one or two in the cat convertor and some cats even have air tubes on them. It all varies between cars really.
you forgot about ho2 sensors. But that's a lesson in itself.

She wanted basic information and the main thing she needs to know is.
A. That she can do it herself.
B. To check the threads and see if it is still ok, and find out why it fell out.
C. Not to touch anything past the threads.
D. Use Anti-Sieze on the threads upon installation.

I would recommend also that when she has her car in for service, they check the upstream o2 sensor to see if it is on it's way out, and if need be replace it. As o2 sensors usually only last 40-60 thousand miles before they start to go bad.


PS, use a o2 sensor from teh factory instead of one from shucks. or any other autoparts store.


Posted by Orbax on Aug-07-2004 04:47:

Three main generic sensors. TP , O2 and post cat O2.

TP is throttle control

O2 is saying what kind of mixture is coming out and the last post cat converter sits there and says how efficient your cat is.


Posted by DiMethGuy on Aug-07-2004 04:50:

quote:
Originally posted by Orbax
Three main generic sensors. TP , O2 and post cat O2.

TP is throttle control

O2 is saying what kind of mixture is coming out and the last post cat converter sits there and says how efficient your cat is.


while that is true...it is a generalization. depending on what kinda car she has. I know my Oldsmobubble has a TP/o2 sensor together. Of course my olds is a one of kind disaster to repair/no interchangeable nothing/beastly Aurora. So it may just be the only exception...but there could be more. just saying


Posted by Orbax on Aug-07-2004 04:52:


Posted by euphoria on Aug-09-2004 13:39:

95 Nissan Altima. Thanks for all the help guys. The peice was hanging out of the catalytic converter due to rust. I got it welded back in and my axle replaced all for under $120 by the auto yards by my house. They have inexpensive parts and cheap labor. I dont really want to put that much $$ into this car. Just repairing the more necesarry things for the car to function because its old and falling apart.


Posted by getfoul on Aug-09-2004 19:38:

uhhh, i wouldn't weld an o2 sensor into the cat. It's gonna have to be replaced sooner or later and now that it's welded in whoever does that job of replacing it will probably have to replace the whole cat now. Did they check with a graphing voltmeter if the o2 sensor was still good?



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