Can i disconnect my o2 sensor

An O2 sensor is responsible to measure the amount of Oxygen left in an exhaust gas. The ECU also uses other factors to identify how much fuel to be injected — but O2 sensor plays the major role.

There should be at least one oxygen sensor in a car — located in the exhaust system, right before the catalytic converter. Typically, there is more than one oxygen sensor in a car — especially those with a bigger engine. These additional sensors are mounted on the exhaust manifold. One oxygen sensor per cylinder. An O2 sensor is mounted onto an exhaust pipe — half of the body inside the exhaust, and the other half outside. The O2 sensor reads oxygen levels on both inside the exhaust and outside.

The difference in O2 will create a voltage spike — indicating how low or high the O2 level is inside the exhaust. The higher the voltage spike, the bigger the difference in O2 levels. Below are the typical readings from an O2 sensor. People usually remove the oxygen sensor if they are very serious about improving their car performance. Oftentimes, when installing performance parts like exhaust headers and nitrous, your O2 sensor will sense too much pollutant and leftover fuel from the exhaust gas.

These readings could cause the ECU to inject lesser fuel and hinder performance gain. Not to mention, the O2 sensor will also cause the check engine light to turn on. However, O2 sensors are included to provide an optimal ride for the average people — good performance, good fuel economy and low emission. With the O2 sensor removed, your ECU can no longer calculate how much fuel should be injected.

The ECU will fallback to its default value and always inject the same amount of fuel every time. This could cause either low performance or horrible fuel economy. This can cause several different things.

Your ECU will notice that an O2 sensor is not responding. This will cause the check engine light to turn on. However, this does not always mean that an O2 sensor is bad. A sudden reduction in performance can also indicate that an O2 sensor is bad. This point is exactly the opposite as above. If this is really the case, you could also tell by looking at your exhaust fumes — they might be darker in color. This is the unburned fuel exiting the car through the exhaust system. Sonic dB.

Sonic dB's Garage Cab. I was wonding if one of you experts could advise me on this At the PPI, the mechanic noted that my car "hesitated" a little on accellaration and said that it probably needed an 02 sensor I did notice this hesitation too The shop dropped the engine and did the work but forgot to hook the 02 sensor back up.

I got the car back and really noticed that it was running sweet Had to take it back to the shop, to get main seal leak fixed and the mechanic noticed that the 02 sensor was unhooked Some guys just unhook it".

Questions: 1 A new 02 sensor is rather expensive to replace. Will it hurt my engine in any way, if I just unhook it and leave it that way? Thanks very much. I have heard of people around here unplugging their lambda sensor on SCs, but was under the impression that motronic, 3. We live alone. We die alone. And anything in between that can give us the illusion that we're not, we cling to. Mike the mechanic. Sonic, the lambda is the same as O2 sensor. I have found that 3. I noticed smoother idle and better part throttle response with no loss in fuel economy.

The O2 sensor controls whether the engine is burning lean or rich while it is idleing. The only long term damage I can see if you disconnect the O2 sensor is that if the engine is burning rich, it can damqage the catalytic converter. If you live in an area that has emission testing, you may not be able to pass the emission test with a damage converter.

You can afford a clutch job, but can't afford a new O2 sensor? I pulled all the steel wool out of my cat. So if I unhook the O2 sensor it will run better? Sound like a plan. Sound of chimes With the O2 sensor disconnected, the system reverts to using the base fuel maps which probably ends up being a little richer than when the O2 sensor is correcting things.

I don't think it goes to "full rich". With the O2 sensor connected, the system will keep correcting the mixture i. When O2 sensors get old they get "lazy" and don't respond as fast. Personally, I'd prefer to have a good working O2 sensor just for the enviromental benefits. They do sell a special tool, but you can do it with a crescent wrench.

Use some liquid wrench first. How far do you have to drive to reset the check engine light? How long does it take for the check engine light to go off after replacing the o2 sensor? Once your sensor is reinstalled and plugged back in reconnect your battery. With any luck your check engine light will be off. Take it for minute test drive to see how it runs. What is the difference between upstream and downstream o2 sensors? The upstream oxygen sensor is situated before the catalytic converter whereas the downstream oxygen sensor is located after the catalytic converter.

The upstream sensor monitors the level of pollutants in the engine's exhaust and sends this information to the ECU that continuously adjusts the air-fuel ratio.

Can a car run without o2 sensors? Consider this: if the O2 sensor fails, you can still continue driving the car. Yes, you will get a yellow check engine light but it will not prevent you from driving the car. So, based on this, the car can continue operating on the other sensors alone such as the air flow sensor. Can you use a downstream oxygen sensor for upstream?

A downstream oxygen sensor in or behind the catalytic converter works exactly the same as an upstream O2 sensor in the exhaust manifold.