Oxygen sensor reliable?

[Graydon D. Stuckey]

All,

	As many of already know, the O2 sensor is only accurate at stoich 
and becomes very inaccurate above and below stoich.

	HOWEVER,

	It has been my experience on a real live dyno, with real live 
engines running, that max torque came at (for example, the VW 2.0) 
.8volts.  When I reduce the mixture to .7 volts, the torque dropped a 
little, and when I increased the mix to .9 volts, the torque dropped.  
This would seem to indicate that the O2 sensor really is useful at richer 
mixtures than stoich.  I found the same thing with every engine that I 
had on a Dyno.  The engines that I have tuned by the seat-of-the-pants on 
the road, I thought I detected the same thing, but that is much more 
subjective.

	Just my .02 worth.  I will usually trust the O2 sensor.


Later,									
Graydon D. Stuckey								
graydon at apollo.gmi.edu								
'86 Audi 5000 CS Turbo Quattro, GDS Racing Stage 1
'83 Mazda RX7 w/13B, GDS Racing Stage 58474