[Diy_efi] O2 says rich, car runs lean..

[Adam Wade]

--- Gary Spooner <automotivelectronics at hotmail.com>
wrote:

> Regarding narrow band 02's I have to disagree with
> the opinion about narrow band inabilities to provide
> and accurate indication of 02 content.

*snip*

Leaving aside for the moment the fact that an O2
sensor only tells you what percentage of exhaust gases
are composed of unburned 02, and not how it got there
(mixture too rich?  Too lean?  Ignition timing wrong? 
Combustion chamber design?  Cam timing/overlap
issues?)...

Narrow-band 02 works great within a very narrow range,
assuming it is properly placed in the exhaust system
and the engine is reasonably "well-behaved" (i.e.,
it's not going to work quite so well with a wild cam
at idle), and assuming you're interested mainly in
feeding a catalytic converter.

As has been noted, a WBO2, whicl subject to some of
the same limitations as a narrowband O2 sensor, can be
made to operate reliably under a wider range of
conditions, and can obviously give you a much broader
range of data that might be of more use to a tuner
(assuming they remember the other factors that affect
O2 readings, and either account for them or test to
make sure they are where the "engineer" wants them to be).

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