1994-2002 [Subscribe to Daily Digest] |
So, after fooling around under my car for a while wih my multimeter, I decided I might as well try swapping out my front O2 Sensor. I ordered a Bosch 15738 from AutoZone, paid them about $92, and they had it the next morning. Though the customer service at my AZ is abysmal, this was a good thirty bucks less than anywhere else in town, plus I knew I'd be borrowing the socket from them, anyway. I should have asked, however, if they had the socket set, though, because they didn't and I wound up driving across town to the other location, which naturally had three. Anyway, I thought I'd report on the switch-out procedure, as I'd never done this before and didn't find all that much detail on the board.
You can almost reacht he front O2 sensor from the front of the car, but it's easier if you put it up on ramps. (I wouldn't advise using slabs of granite, which I did, because I'm now looking for a new mud flap on my driver's side...) Be sure and give the car plenty of time to cool before attempting to remove the old sensor, as the manifold's hot (duh) and the sensor seemed inextricably stuck until I left it alone for 30 minutes with the hood up.
Though the Bosch instructions say to remove the old sensor, entirely, I didn't find this necessary. Actually, it looked like following the cable all the way back to the connector was going to be a real pain, as it appears to be taped to other cables at several points in the engine. This made me glad I'd cheaped out the $40 and gotten the "universal" sensor. Instead, I clipped it a few inches above the lowest cable clamp (about 5"-6" from the sensor base) then removed both this camp and the next one. This allowed me to pull the cable up on top of the radiator.
Although the Bosch instrcutions say to cut the new cable to match the tail left on the old one after removal, I left an extra 2" or so on here to give me just a little room to adjust the position of the "posi-lock" connector shroud after the splice.
Stripping the wires was no big deal. I worried that the 3/8" strip they recommend wouldn't be enough, but it's almost too much. I wound up having to stip the jacket of the cable back farther several times, as it's not obvious, at first, how much wire actually winds up inside the housing while you're fooling around with the posi-lock connectors. The jacket actually compresses pretty well, though, and then makes something of a seal on both the sensor and the connector when it expands.
Feeding the wire through the rubber grommets, into the posi-locks, and tightening these down would be easier with three hands. Preferably, one of these hands would belong to someone who stuffs fortune cookies for a living. The only one that really made me curse was the fourth one: by then, there's no slack in the connection and it's a little tricky to get the wire into the connector at the right angle for it to grab.
Once the connector shield was buttoned up, it was simple to snake the sensor back down through the engine. It's worth putting a few reverse twists in the cable before trying to thread the sensor back into the manifold, as this prevents the cable from getting torqued as the sensor's tightened down. I got lucky and my connector shroud fell about 3/4" above the lower connector, just where I wanted it. Though this might be a little low, it appears reasonably well-protected from the elements, and it's definitely out of the way.
I disconnected the battery for 5-10 minutes while I popped the mud flap off and pressed it back into shape (sorta'), and the dreaded CEL has not returned. The car drives noticeably better, especially under hard acceleration. Looking at the old sensor, I'm not surprised- it's pretty grimy. Sufficiently so, in fact, that I wonder if cleaning it with some sort of hot organic solvent wouldn't have helped, at least temporarily. (I know, I know, these things supposedly can't be reconditioned, but I can't believe the 1/16" of tarry gunk on it wasn't affecting it's sensitivity.)
Total Cost: under $100. Time: About 2 hours, including cool-down, ramp improvisation, and battery-cable disconnection.
posted by 151.213.15...
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