__ 'Revitalizing' Oxygen Sensors ? ?

What about bead blasting? Of course, if the enclosed silicon is kaput, you're SOL...

JT

(Who appreciates parts recycling (back to me) whenever possible)

It's simple to remove it. An O2 sensor wrench would be easiest if it's stuck on but mine came off easily with an adjustable wrench.

If it's failing because it's slow, you might be able to clean it. Fill a stainless steel pan with 1/3 Lime Away tile cleaner (acid) and 2/3 purified water. Drop in the whole sensor and boil lightly for an hour or two. Rinse thoroughly and boil it two more times using only purified water. Mount it on the car and immediately drive to burn off the water.

I've done it twice so far. I figured the second time would ruin it but it still works perfectly.

"'Curly Q. Links'" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@interbaun.com:

This page shows some waveforms, good and bad:

of official Toyota docs at Autoshop101. Another one that looks good:

It's simple to remove it. An O2 sensor wrench would be easiest if it's stuck on but mine came off easily with an adjustable wrench.

If it's failing because it's slow, you might be able to clean it. Fill a stainless steel pan with 1/3 Lime Away tile cleaner (acid) and 2/3 purified water. Drop in the whole sensor and boil lightly for an hour or two. Rinse thoroughly and boil it two more times using only purified water. Mount it on the car and immediately drive to burn off the water.

I've done it twice so far. I figured the second time would ruin it but it still works perfectly.

I think that would doom the sensor. My understanding is they are a porous zirconia cup with platinum film inside and outside to create the electrodes.

Mike

The best explanation I've seen, complete with test info, is from Rick Kirchoff

I've used a scope with some success before. Set the vertical up DC coupled, to read a 0 volt to 1 volt range, and about 100 ms per division sweep. You will see the .45 volt bias Rick describes until the sensor warms up, then it quickly moves into the 0 volt to .9 volt transitions. The waveform is very incoherent, of course, but you will see very rapid transitions... IIRC, on the order of 10 ms for a good sensor. At idle the transitions should be continuous; if you see periods when the transitions pause even though the engine operation is steady there may very well be vacuum or fuel leaks. The one I was looking at had a dripping throttle body injector. The ECU would acquire an idle mixture for a second or two, then the voltage went high (rich) and the ECU chased it until the mixture was lean and it had to find the correct setting again. Stupid Taurus!

Mike

"Michael Pardee" wrote in news:34udnW8YX54hhofZnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@sedona.net:

Yep.

Bead blasting would destroy the outer platinum. And you'd then not have the ability of electron flow, which requires both an anode and a cathode...

I wonder if pure heat and no chemicals would do it, if you could heat up the element enough to burn off contaminants? Platinum melts at 3,200F. Exhaust gas in the combustion chamber is about 2,300F.

And

I tried that on a really dead sensor. The buildup melts when it's white hot.

----------------

Kev> I tried that on a really dead sensor. The buildup melts when it's white > hot.

-------------------------

OK, the buildup melted. Did the sensor 'revive' or did it perish in the flames? Did you 'scope' the sensor before / after?

'Curly'

"'Curly Q. Links'" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@interbaun.com:

He said it "melted",but he didn't say whether the buildup was removed from the sensor or not.

He also did not say whether he tried the "revived" sensor on a car,and the results. What's the point of trying to "revive" the "really dead sensor" if you don't test it afterwards?

I think I'd rather try the chemical method. At least someone says they tried the revived sensor on their engine.