brands of oxygen sensor

[hyongel]

Hi all,

I'm going to replace the O2 sensor in my '88 LX, and I was wondering if people here preferred a particular brand. My choices right now are Bosch and Denso. I think I read somewhere that Denso manufactured the Honda part, but I'm not sure.

I plan to keep this car running for a few more years and don't want to do this job again, so I'm mainly interested in reliability.

Thanks for your help.

Hyong

[Moodybluesr]

www.automedicsupply.com

The Walker or Denso are both good coices. You can save a bunch of money by splicing on the old connector with a universal sensor.

[hyongel]

Thanks for the reply. I saw that Bosch had a rebate for their O2 sensors, so I went with the universal. Now to get that sucker installed ...

[HondaBoy]

if you want to know the truth, in my case i unplugged the O2 sensor when i had emmission controls connected and had no change in how the car ran. i did buy a bosch sensor though for use with a header and air/fuel gauge when it comes time.

[Oldblueaccord]

if you want to know the truth, in my case i unplugged the O2 sensor when i had emmission controls connected and had no change in how the car ran. i did buy a bosch sensor though for use with a header and air/fuel gauge when it comes time.

I wanted to do that to just to see what it does.

Did you get a code at all?

Lotta people recommended changing your O2 sensors to fix bad idle and stuff and I never agreed with that.


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[hyongel]

cke,

Thanks for the advice. I sprayed it w/WD40, let it sit overnight, and then drove the car for a while to heat up the exhaust before I took the sensor out. I was surprised to find that it didn't take much force to unscrew it, but the original was replaced 50K miles ago, so maybe the last install was done gently. The factory manual spec's 33 ft-lb, which sounds pretty high; I just tightened it with a 3/8" ratchet -- probably 15-20 ft-lb -- and all is fine so far.

I haven't seen much change in driveability -- the idle is the same. The car sounds a bit smoother around 60 mph, but that could be due to the warmer-than-normal weather the last few days.

I'm mostly interested in fuel economy at this point (I've gotten 20-22 mpg in winter, 25 to 26 in summer), so I'll keep an eye on it & let people know if it improves noticeably.

Hyong

[DBMaster]

I hsve learned that your O2 sensor can be "weak" and cause your car to fail emission testing without being bad enough to throw a code. Also, my mechanic, who has worked on Hondas since 1978 told me that there are only a few brands that are any good. OEM are about the best and will last nearly the life of the car (225K miles in my case). Why go too cheap?

[hyongel]

Hi Mike

Thanks for your thoughts; they do confirm what I have read elsewhere. Do you happen to know which are recommended aside from the Denso & Walker mentioned by Moodybluesr? I had always considered Bosch to be a reliable supplier.

In my case, the original sensor had been replaced by the previous owner about 50K miles ago with a Bosch unit, so I can't compare with the Honda. Emissions testing is a reality here as well, but I haven't had a problem passing so far. I was mostly interested in seeing if I could increase my low winter gas mileage, and since the Bosch universal ran $10 after gas card rebate, as opposed to $30 or so for the Denso or Walker and almost $150 for the Honda, I thought I would give it a try.

I'll replace it if it causes problems, so I'm still interested in hearing about good options. What brand does your mechanic recommend?

Hyong

[DBMaster]

Well, I don't know which brand he used on mine. He uses "a supplier from California" (that's all he will ever tell me) who he says provides factory equivalent parts in most cases at a fair price. I did pay about $140 each for them which is about the same price as Majestic Honda. Based upon my experience with him I would say he uses good parts as it would cost them too much to have to replace faulty ones. We do agree on aftermarket radiators and such, plus he likes working on my car because it is so clean.

I would probably take a chance on the Denso, but I have heard from more than just him that the Bosch sensors are not too good. For the money, though, maybe it's not a bad thing to replace them every 50K miles or so...

[Moodybluesr]

The O2 sensor on the carbureted Accord is not going to afford you too much in the gas mileage department as it only controls the feedback control system in the carburetor. Hondas are very prone to getting worse gas mileage in the winter, something I have had to deal with on all 12 Hondas I have owned.

[DBMaster]

When I had both replaced the symptom was high HC emissions on the high speed test. The sensors both (LXi) worked, but had slower than optimal response time. Replacing them restored emission levels to normal and did abslutely nothing for fuel economy. Those of us in this area who owned these cars prior to January 1995 saw in excess of a 10% drop in fuel economy from the switch to reformulated gas that was forced upon us in response to air quality issues. When I travel out of the area and fill up in a county where they do not have RFG there is a very noticeable increase in power and fuel economy almost immediately. That is the price we pay for all the cars and trucks on the roads these days, I guess.

RFG has been modified several times since 1995 so I have seen my fuel economy drop from an average of 29 to an average of 25. Some of that could be due to age and mileage, but probably not much of it.

[hyongel]

I've only had this car long enough for 2 emissions tests, and the last was in 11/04. I did have this in the back of my mind, though, since I will have to be retested 11/06. I can't check for degradation between the 2 tests because the testing method and limits seem to have changed.

I definitely agree that there is a mileage difference between summer & winter gas in Chicago; another (fuel injected) car I drive looses 1-2 mpg in November -- not as big as the Accord, though.

Moodybluesr, I agree. I'm just hoping. If I could even get 1 mpg more, I would break even by winter's end, and have a new O2 sensor to boot.

[AccordEpicenter]

Just so you know guys,i have both the o2 sensors unplugged (unplugged=nonexistant) and i rarely ever get a check engine light from that

[Strugglebucket]

you have to drive at constant rpms for a few minutes to get it to code out. i still don't really know when the ecu uses them and when it doesn't.

[AccordEpicenter]

when the cel comes on, you have a code. No cel=no code. Key off and key on again while driving=dumps code. Our cars are pre obd though. I have to drive my car for at least 20 miles or so to get a code

[Oldblueaccord]

Just so you know guys,i have both the o2 sensors unplugged (unplugged=nonexistant) and i rarely ever get a check engine light from that

That tells me right there there not doing much.


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[AccordEpicenter]

they dont do much in pre obd cars methinks