I have a 1996 Civic DX w/ a manual tranny. The oxygen sensor is bad and I need to get a new one in order for it to pass the smog check so I can sell the car. I have called about a dozen places and the cheapest O2 Sensor I can get for that year and model is like 450 bucks. I am wondering if an oxygen sensor from an older year (hopefully cheaper) would work with my car and make the check engine light go off.

 

They're less than $100 at Advance or Autozone. Still kind of expensive compared to other cars. The car has two sensors, know which one you need; hopefully you don't need both.

 

$70 bosch universal will work, you'd just have to connect the wires properly... your o2 sensor is a 4 wire heated sensor, so make sure to get the right one.

note that your car has two o2 sensors, one upstream, and one downstream of the catalytic converter, and it will still throw a cel if you replace the wrong one.

Also, the secondary one (downstream) in the DX tends to rust into the end of the catalytic converter pretty solid, so they might be quoting you $400 figuring they'll have to replace it


anything more than $150 for an o2 sensor would be unusually high