Expirimental Oxygen Sensor Swap

[mzarifkar]

So far after 35 miles no check engine lights come on yet, so thats good. I have long drive next weekend, after that i will re evauluate my solder joint. I staggered the wires when i cut thems so theyre not all soldered at one place, and i kind of braided the wires together (not twist) before soldering. In a month i have a 800mile trip which would be the ulitmate test.

I never considered the thermal conductivity of the wire itself inside of it. i was thinking that by slapping on extra insulator from the old wire, and having it "in the wind" it would help cool, but i think the extra insulation will jsut keep it warm and actually decrease the cooling that the wind will have on it.

[winfred]

the early 4 wire sensors are just like a 3 wire sensor but with a ground wire (gray wire) instead of depending on the exhaust for being a good ground, they operate in the same range 0-1 volt, the obdII cars run a 0-5 volt sensor

[genphreak]

I never considered the thermal conductivity of the wire itself inside of it. i was thinking that by slapping on extra insulator from the old wire, and having it "in the wind" it would help cool, but i think the extra insulation will jsut keep it warm and actually decrease the cooling that the wind will have on it.

The heat is why they use silver wires, not copper.

Cu would oxidise and crap out after a year or three. Same can go for a soldered joint too near the cat- tho most people get away with it like this for a while. I think key issue here is also to prevent the ingress of water from the road. PVC tape would eb no good of course, a really decent length of heat shrink would be the minimum I'd use over a joint down there.

Thanks for the 4-wire correction Winfred. I'm glad I still get to feel like a n00b, it underscores one of the extradordinary virtues of bimmer.info