I seem to remember someone in here talking about how 02s could be prone to damage from being rough with exhaust. I just had to remove my exhaust to get a broken stud out. I hammered the stuff out of the mid pipes and seemed to have killed 3 of 4 o2s in the process. I want being nice to the stud and the two downstreams are right near the flange. Anyone ever heard of this?
Yes, they can be damaged relatively easily. The end of the sensor has a ceramic tip with zirconium dioxide which makes the voltage potential for the sensor. They aren't what I would call fragile, but maybe a wee little more fragile than, say, a spark plug.
I had to sawzall a flange stud....dead O2 sensor within two weeks of being back on the road. Of course you can also damage them just by removing them and storing them. Not sure what the right answer is...maybe just par for the course with exhaust work.
Well I just ordered $220 of sensors. The car was running fine before that. I guess I'll remove the 02's next time I decide to sledge on a manifold.
Yep. I've done the exact same thing.
I've had the same O2 sensors on my stage rally car for almost a decade. And the catback has been ripped off three times in that time span, and exhaust has dents all over it from hitting rocks and other stuff. O2 still works fine, as far as I know.
YMMV, of course....maybe my 1994 engine just doesn't care if the O2 is working or not, lol.
So this is on an e90 BMW. Car ran fine. Pulled exhaust to hammer out two studs in the manifold with the manifold still attached. Now I have 3 errors. 2 post cat and the rear pre-cat.
The pre cat is a wideband and has caused the car to go into limp mode.
Lesson learned.
Yes
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