From: Sarah Houston on
( 93 Corolla 1.8L 7AFE )

I had no idea about this but Bosch suggests replacing the oxygen sensor
with every tuneup? Huh? Mine has never been replaced as far as I know. (
we got the car at 45k miles, it now has 172k )

http://www.boschautoparts.com/Products/OxygenSensors/

Seriously?

I priced a Bosch one at about $60 with tax.

Is there any real advantage to using a Toyota part on this?
( outside of to Toyota, because it costs more? )

From: Ray O on

"Sarah Houston" <SHoust(a)pndfnospam.com> wrote in message
news:Xns9B73C8AABB540SntzldfrdSntzldfrdco(a)216.196.97.142...
>( 93 Corolla 1.8L 7AFE )
>
> I had no idea about this but Bosch suggests replacing the oxygen sensor
> with every tuneup? Huh? Mine has never been replaced as far as I know. (
> we got the car at 45k miles, it now has 172k )
>
> http://www.boschautoparts.com/Products/OxygenSensors/
>
> Seriously?
>
> I priced a Bosch one at about $60 with tax.
>
> Is there any real advantage to using a Toyota part on this?
> ( outside of to Toyota, because it costs more? )
>

Toyota does not recommend replacing O2 sensors as part of routine
maintenance. Perhaps Bosch does not have confidence in the longevity of
their sensors, which might be a good reason to stick to OEM, or maybe Bosch
is just trying to sell more parts.

I have heard of problems when people use non-OEM sensors on Toyotas, but
Bosch should be OK to use if you use the one with the correct factory
connector. Some of the cheaper O2 sensors do not have the correct factory
connector and you have to splice wires. The splices often end up being
short-lived and you end up with problems within a year or so.

In any event, if you do not have a check engine light illuminated, I
wouldn't worry about your O2 sensors.
--

Ray O
(correct punctuation to reply)



From: Sarah Houston on
"Ray O" <rokigawa(a)NOSPAMtristarassociates.com> wrote :

>
> "Sarah Houston" <SHoust(a)pndfnospam.com> wrote in message
> news:Xns9B73C8AABB540SntzldfrdSntzldfrdco(a)216.196.97.142...
>>( 93 Corolla 1.8L 7AFE )
>>
>> I had no idea about this but Bosch suggests replacing the oxygen
>> sensor with every tuneup? Huh? Mine has never been replaced as far
>> as I know. ( we got the car at 45k miles, it now has 172k )
>>
>> http://www.boschautoparts.com/Products/OxygenSensors/
>>
>> Seriously?
>>
>> I priced a Bosch one at about $60 with tax.
>>
>> Is there any real advantage to using a Toyota part on this?
>> ( outside of to Toyota, because it costs more? )
>>
>
> Toyota does not recommend replacing O2 sensors as part of routine
> maintenance. Perhaps Bosch does not have confidence in the longevity
> of their sensors, which might be a good reason to stick to OEM, or
> maybe Bosch is just trying to sell more parts.
>
> I have heard of problems when people use non-OEM sensors on Toyotas,
> but Bosch should be OK to use if you use the one with the correct
> factory connector. Some of the cheaper O2 sensors do not have the
> correct factory connector and you have to splice wires. The splices
> often end up being short-lived and you end up with problems within a
> year or so.
>
> In any event, if you do not have a check engine light illuminated, I
> wouldn't worry about your O2 sensors.

Don't they get clogged after awhile?

From: Ray O on

"Sarah Houston" <SHoust(a)pndfnospam.com> wrote in message
news:Xns9B73E46F3CB8ASntzldfrdSntzldfrdco(a)216.196.97.142...
> "Ray O" <rokigawa(a)NOSPAMtristarassociates.com> wrote :
>
>>
>> "Sarah Houston" <SHoust(a)pndfnospam.com> wrote in message
>> news:Xns9B73C8AABB540SntzldfrdSntzldfrdco(a)216.196.97.142...
>>>( 93 Corolla 1.8L 7AFE )
>>>
>>> I had no idea about this but Bosch suggests replacing the oxygen
>>> sensor with every tuneup? Huh? Mine has never been replaced as far
>>> as I know. ( we got the car at 45k miles, it now has 172k )
>>>
>>> http://www.boschautoparts.com/Products/OxygenSensors/
>>>
>>> Seriously?
>>>
>>> I priced a Bosch one at about $60 with tax.
>>>
>>> Is there any real advantage to using a Toyota part on this?
>>> ( outside of to Toyota, because it costs more? )
>>>
>>
>> Toyota does not recommend replacing O2 sensors as part of routine
>> maintenance. Perhaps Bosch does not have confidence in the longevity
>> of their sensors, which might be a good reason to stick to OEM, or
>> maybe Bosch is just trying to sell more parts.
>>
>> I have heard of problems when people use non-OEM sensors on Toyotas,
>> but Bosch should be OK to use if you use the one with the correct
>> factory connector. Some of the cheaper O2 sensors do not have the
>> correct factory connector and you have to splice wires. The splices
>> often end up being short-lived and you end up with problems within a
>> year or so.
>>
>> In any event, if you do not have a check engine light illuminated, I
>> wouldn't worry about your O2 sensors.
>
> Don't they get clogged after awhile?
>
"Contaminated" is probably a more accurate description than "clogged." Like
I said, a malfunctioning O2 sensor usually will be indicated by a check
engine light but if you are worried, it is pretty easy to check your O2
sensor's function with a volt meter. I always recommend checking something
before blindly replacing it.
--

Ray O
(correct punctuation to reply)


From: Sarah Houston on
"Ray O" <rokigawa(a)NOSPAMtristarassociates.com> wrote :

>
> "Sarah Houston" <SHoust(a)pndfnospam.com> wrote in message
> news:Xns9B73E46F3CB8ASntzldfrdSntzldfrdco(a)216.196.97.142...
>> "Ray O" <rokigawa(a)NOSPAMtristarassociates.com> wrote :
>>
>>>
>>> "Sarah Houston" <SHoust(a)pndfnospam.com> wrote in message
>>> news:Xns9B73C8AABB540SntzldfrdSntzldfrdco(a)216.196.97.142...
>>>>( 93 Corolla 1.8L 7AFE )
>>>>
>>>> I had no idea about this but Bosch suggests replacing the oxygen
>>>> sensor with every tuneup? Huh? Mine has never been replaced as far
>>>> as I know. ( we got the car at 45k miles, it now has 172k )
>>>>
>>>> http://www.boschautoparts.com/Products/OxygenSensors/
>>>>
>>>> Seriously?
>>>>
>>>> I priced a Bosch one at about $60 with tax.
>>>>
>>>> Is there any real advantage to using a Toyota part on this?
>>>> ( outside of to Toyota, because it costs more? )
>>>>
>>>
>>> Toyota does not recommend replacing O2 sensors as part of routine
>>> maintenance. Perhaps Bosch does not have confidence in the
>>> longevity of their sensors, which might be a good reason to stick
>>> to OEM, or maybe Bosch is just trying to sell more parts.
>>>
>>> I have heard of problems when people use non-OEM sensors on
>>> Toyotas, but Bosch should be OK to use if you use the one with the
>>> correct factory connector. Some of the cheaper O2 sensors do not
>>> have the correct factory connector and you have to splice wires.
>>> The splices often end up being short-lived and you end up with
>>> problems within a year or so.
>>>
>>> In any event, if you do not have a check engine light illuminated,
>>> I wouldn't worry about your O2 sensors.
>>
>> Don't they get clogged after awhile?
>>
> "Contaminated" is probably a more accurate description than
> "clogged." Like I said, a malfunctioning O2 sensor usually will be
> indicated by a check engine light but if you are worried, it is
> pretty easy to check your O2 sensor's function with a volt meter. I
> always recommend checking something before blindly replacing it.

Malfunctioning yes, I understand that, but:

http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/4Runner/tech/O2_Sensor/

After doing some extensive reading, it began to come clear how the O2
Sensor performance could be off, yet not be able to see any symptoms
(other than lower gas mileage) with the tools I was using. It turns out
that the O2 swing cycle shown in the photographs is the swing time of
the overall system and not just the O2 sensor itself. To really examine
the performance the O2 sensor, for example to determine if it was
developing a lean or rich offset, one would have to use a digital volt
meter with an averaging feature connected directly to the sensor and
look for the 450mV centerline signal in a known, properly performing
system centered at the 50% duty cycle. To measure responsiveness, one
would have to use a laboratory scope and setup specifically for this
measurement as a properly performing O2 sensor has response times in the
neighborhood of a few hundreds of a second, not the average 1.8 seconds
seen as the overall system response time by an OBDII scanner.

So when do you replace the O2 sensor? The answer turns out to be simple.
Per a trusted Toyota service manager's experience and, experiences
posted in the Toyota 4x4wire Forum, the O2 sensor needs to be replaced
on average every 75,000 miles to maintain optimum gas mileage
performance.