[Diy_efi] Possible method of partial repair of damaged O2 sensor (was designed for O2)

[Mike]

At 06:21 PM 2/06/05, you wrote:
>i doubt very much any manifacturer with at least 5% of brains left would market a car that would blow the engine due to a ego sensor failure. expecially in the US marker where we all know the liability problems and the attitude of courts to award ludicrous amounts of money for damage.  even walls know that o2 sensors are delicate and can be killed by just one tankful of the wrong fuel.

Many moons ago, or rather 10 years - I had two tanks of regular leaded in my ULP 
turbo car over a 2 week period - dont ask why. When going back to ULP the ratio
would go all over the place and replaced the O2 sensor - all back to normal,
eventually replaced the cat too - but did that with a 3" exh upgrade at same time.

Anyway, I toyed with the old O2 sensor and a propane torch in normal
atmosphere on the bench for about 10 - 15mins, I gave it a bit of a
hammering with a hot O2 rich flame hoping I'd burn off any lead deposits
and watched the output wander around, cant recall the exact figures - it
was about 10yrs back afterall.

About a week after that I had occasion to try it, I let it run for a normal
tankful of ULP but had the initial AFM cal set to leaner than normal.
Anyway,  after about half a tank of use mostly city it seemed to settle
down. Another week or so later I swapped back the good one and couldnt
notice much difference overall. Swapping back and forth twice
more if i recall showed minimal difference. I ended up leaving it out as I
couldnt be sure it would last the long term, I still have it for reference.

Does anyway think the propane torch trick really works longer term,
did seem to make quite a difference for me though it may not have been
damaged so much in the first place - who knows ?

I wonder if a more efficient 'repair' would be to heat it with a torch and
play some pure gaseous O2 over it for a few seconds and repeat this
cycle a few times,

I wonder how much of the 'information' about sensors we get is really valid
when we can just as easily buy a new one, esp now they are cheaper.


Regards from


Mike
Perth, Western Australia
VL Commodore Fuse Rail that wont warp or melt !
http://niche.iinet.net.au