O2 sensor

[GamEXP]

I have a 96 5.0 v8 and I think one of the O2 sensors is bad. I can't find a code reader anywhere and don't want to spend the $80 to have someone do it for me. I'm fairly savy whne it comes to engine work as I have raced cars for a few years, but cant seem to find the correct technics to extracting the codes and what the codes are. In most cars you can hook a multi tester up to two of the pins on the dignostic port and a morse code type reading. But I'm not sure with this truck. Anyone with experince please respond. Also .. is this a common ... the O2 sensor going bad after 52K miles? Any feed back would be great. Last thing is.. do we have a Ford dealer that gives us a discount on parts?

 

[GamEXP]

Oh yea...I am also having the "check engine" light come on. It stays on and sometimes flashes. The car idels like crap and feels like it missing. I'm about 99% sure it's the O2 sensor .. let me know.

 

[bachelor25]

Hey Gam,

I can say with almost certainty that your diagnosis is bang-on. My truck was exibiting the same symptoms for several months. Crappy fuel economy, check engine light on, miss around 2K rpm, etc.

I too was hoping to scan the codes myself, but with the '96+ vehicles being OBD-II there are no cheap hand scanners available yet.

I figured it was the O2 sensors so I bought both of them just in case (there is a front one and a rear one) and let the Ford dealer diagnose it. Sure enough the front one was showing up as bad, and they replaced it. No problems since!

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Cheers,

Andrew B.
1996 Ford Explorer 4x4 (slightly modified)
BC, Canada

 

[Rob Slade]

I have a '95 that the O2 senser just went on. I was getting pretty bad mileage and it would idle pretty rough. Mine went at 80000 miles. It wasn't under warrenty so I had to pay about $362. Ouch. Good luck with yours. Oh yeah, they charged me $150 to diagnostic it. That sucked

 

[Francis]

You should buy the Haynes book for the Explorer 10$...It explains how to test the O2 sensor. It easy ...you just need a digital multimeter... The Ford original part is about 99 Canadian $$.... So it a good idea to test it before...

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Francis
92 Sport 4X4
88 Bronco II 4X4

 

[DrewP]

Guys,

Instead of guessing at problems you should invest in an engine analyzer. Check out http://www.autotap.com They definitely have the most sophisticated and, in my opinion, best idea out there. It will save you from guessing all the time, plus you might find it so neat that you mount a PC to your dash and monitor your engine performance real time all the time....if you're obsessive.

Good luck.