o2 sensor question slash issue ...

[kapone]

I did a quick tune up on my car... when i swapped the spark plugs out oil fell in the cylinder (the gaskets are bad) so when I turned the car on it smoked for like a minute or 2.

Turn the car off and back on again and it stopped smoking but it threw a code 41 o2 sensor heat element. So I ran to the junk yard (very broke right now) and picked up 2 of them for $20.

Swapped out one and it threw a code 01 (bad o2 sensor) but it did it intermittently. So i swap out the other one and it threw a code 41.

During all this the car idled and ran great. It did not hesitate or bog. there was no change in the performance of the car at all. I have been driving the car like this for a week now with out an issue. except the very bright CEL light on.

Any thoughts on this ... could it be some thing other than the o2 sensor?

[deevergote]

Did you reset the ECU to clear the old codes?

[wed3k]

you know you can test the resistance of the heater? a heater wont necessarily affect performance because when the egt's cant keep the o2 hot, then you will begin to have performance issues due to a slow responding o2

[kapone]

^^yes...I reset it every time I installed a different o2 ... and checked every time the light turned on after...

And I drove the car with the first o2 change that threw the o2 bad code ( 01)... car drove like normal, no change in performance or drive ability what so ever...

When I did the search on here, every thread I encountered stated that when there o2 sensor went bad the car ether stalled or drove like crap...

Thats what baffles me ... my car is driving like everything is fine ...

BTW... how do you test the heater.. is there a way to test the o2 sensor while its out of the car...?

[wed3k]

yea, resistance should be 14-17 ohms..it's always the two wires with the same colors like both white or both black.

[Karl]

how much drive time did it get between o2 swaps? I would try it for a day or two with frequent cel clearing before giving up on any one of them.

[kapone]

between the first swap only like 20 minutes ... but the last I've been driving it for a week now...

for the test ... is that the o2 test it self or the heater test ?

[wed3k]

idk, do some research to see what an o2 actually does.