so i bring my civic into the Penske Honda near me to have them look at the engine light thats on.. i drop it off and go to school. so later on in the day i get a text from my mom saying that i need a new oxygen sensor and its gonna be 398 dollars!!!! omg!! apparently if i dont fix it, it will screw my cat converter over.. i thinkin its worth it to get a new cat rather than pay that.. if i dont get the work done, then it is still a 92 diagnostic charge. what do i do? is that not REALLLLY high??

 

ya new OEM o2sensors are very high!!!!! personaly id say buy aftermarket o2 sensor.LOL but still gonna be about 100bucks or so........ tho might have to wire it up yourself..... some mightbe plug and play...

 

ugh! it makes me sick.. how do something like that stop working??

 

well thiers so many things that could make it go bad.... but i think they are only ment to last till around 40-60K miles so techincaly probably 99% of cars are still using old o2 sensors.LOL doesnt mean they will go bad but could be go...


i know on my old chevy truck when i pulled its o2 sensor for some reason it had like a shell build up around the sensor.... i busted off the shell but already had a new sensor plus i had to cut the harness on the sensor to get a boxed wrench on it cause it was REALY stuck in thier!!!!!!
but if you plan on changing it yourself be sure to get a can of penatrating oil and soak it down... and DO NOT USE A OPEN END WRENCH on it!!!!!!!! trust me it will strip and round the head right off!!! then you have some serious problems removing it after the head is striped off [:@] been thier done that.......

 

Yeah...when mine went out in my Neon I went to my buddy that owns a small local shop here (this was before I knew it was the o2 sensor) anyway he said they are only supposed to last ~60k. But you should be able to buy one for $50-80 and put it in yourself...eff the stealership[>:]

 

The 96 has two sensors. Find out which one it is. If it's the one before the converter, you do need to replace it soon or bad things will happen, mostly converter damage, low gas mileage, and of course more pollution. If it's the one after, you could keep driving with the light on because it is just there to check if the converter is working.

The sensor after the converter is somewhat more expensive but should still be about $100 aftermarket.

 

$398!?!?!? Holy ****! Goto your local parts store and buy one there that's what I did. The primary one went, the one before the cat. Its was easy to replace took me about 30 minutes, Mainly becuase it was my first time.I got the sensor for $80 at autozone and a o2 sensor socket for $3 or something. Pulled out the old one put in the new reset the CEL and done.

 

yeah its deff the primary sensor, cuz imexperiencing all those probs.. low gmilage, bad exhaust, and that.. so its an easy install?? i could just pay the 92 for the diagnose get the 80-90 dollar sensor and do it myself?? any write up on it?? walkthrough?

 

am i cutting wires? or just unplugging the old and plugging in the new??

 

You should be able to get an oem replacement that just plugs in @ O'Reilly for $80ish