Heads up on oxygen sensors

[Huskymaniac]

I just bought two NTK sensors from Rockauto to replace the two Bosch pieces of crap that I put on there over the past couple of years. One was bad out of the box and the other recently started throwing codes for a slow response.

The good news is that they are selling them for $37.79 plus about $5 for shipping, depending on where you live. In my case, I was able to combine shipping on two of them so my final cost was just over $40 each.

I originally went with Bosch based on a suggestion from Jason. That was bad advice. But I will admit that my personal experience on parts across the board has been that Bosch's quality and reliability has gone downhill rapidly over the past 10 years or so. They used to be decent. Those sensors are the last Bosch parts I will buy. For stuff like this, it is NGK/NTK from now on.

[Sean486]

Originally Posted by Huskymaniac

I just bought two NTK sensors from Rockauto to replace the two Bosch pieces of crap that I put on there over the past couple of years. One was bad out of the box and the other recently started throwing codes for a slow response.

The good news is that they are selling them for $37.79 plus about $5 for shipping, depending on where you live. In my case, I was able to combine shipping on two of them so my final cost was just over $40 each.

I originally went with Bosch based on a suggestion from Jason. That was bad advice. But I will admit that my personal experience on parts across the board has been that Bosch's quality and reliability has gone downhill rapidly over the past 10 years or so. They used to be decent. Those sensors are the last Bosch parts I will buy. For stuff like this, it is NGK/NTK from now on.

I have never had a problem with my Bosch ones. I am guessing that your car being 96 may be a little touchier about it's sensors. You might want to go OEM if these fail you.

[Huskymaniac]

Originally Posted by Sean486

I have never had a problem with my Bosch ones. I am guessing that your car being 96 may be a little touchier about it's sensors. You might want to go OEM if these fail you.

Possibly. The rear sensor, in particular, seems to be...particular. NTK supplies the OEM sensors. Hopefully this will rid me of the occasional "slow response" codes.

I ordered these today so I can get them in by Monday. I figured I would kill two birds with one stone as I need to bring my car to the mechanic to get an inspection done and get my snow tires put on as it sounds like we could get 7 feet of snow next week!

[longassname]

I'm running ntk sensors. I think I got them from sparkplugs.com which is where I order my ngk plugs from. Never had any problems with them.

[Tireiron]

FYI the rear sensor does nothing on a 96. When I built my exhaust I didn't feel like putting a bung in at the time because it was getting late, so I just put the exhaust on and didn't plug in the rear sensor and guess what happened? NOTHING. For the past 3 or 4 years now nothing has resulted in not having a rear oxygen sensor in my 96. I don't think subaru cared to change much of the car for the US market knowing they were just ending the line so they added as basic of OBD2 functionality as they could and left it alone.

[Huskymaniac]

Originally Posted by Tireiron

FYI the rear sensor does nothing on a 96. When I built my exhaust I didn't feel like putting a bung in at the time because it was getting late, so I just put the exhaust on and didn't plug in the rear sensor and guess what happened? NOTHING. For the past 3 or 4 years now nothing has resulted in not having a rear oxygen sensor in my 96. I don't think subaru cared to change much of the car for the US market knowing they were just ending the line so they added as basic of OBD2 functionality as they could and left it alone.

Without it operating and operating correctly the ECU throws a code and I can't get it through inspections with the CEL on.

[1986nate]

The 3rd o2 sensor is in place only to detect that a catalytic converter is in place. It does not do anything more or less. It does not affect tuning by reading the a/f ratio like the front o2 sensors.

[icingdeath88]

Originally Posted by Tireiron

FYI the rear sensor does nothing on a 96. When I built my exhaust I didn't feel like putting a bung in at the time because it was getting late, so I just put the exhaust on and didn't plug in the rear sensor and guess what happened? NOTHING. For the past 3 or 4 years now nothing has resulted in not having a rear oxygen sensor in my 96. I don't think subaru cared to change much of the car for the US market knowing they were just ending the line so they added as basic of OBD2 functionality as they could and left it alone.

Does it throw a code for the missing sensor?

[SVX92-97]

Tony, I just bought 3 of them from RockAuto for $116 shipped to OT's

[Old Davy]

I thank you for the heads-up. And the 3rd sensor info/explanation.
The only CEL code I'm consistently & intermittently thrown is for O2 - sensor 1, bank 1. I'm annoyed with the red light (and maybe the effect on fuel consumption?). It comes and goes every 50 km or so. I've unplugged the connectors, cleaned the contacts and reconnected several times but the CEL keeps coming back after OBD2 clearing.
Maintenance records dating back to 1999 indicate this sensor was replaced by a dealer 3 years ago and it sure does look different from the one on the other side.
I ordered a pair of NTKs from Rock Auto last night (this will be interesting since at the time of ordering Rock Auto had only 4 left in stock).

Cost $76. + $25 UPS shipping to Canada + $9.80 GST.
A bargain at $110.80 to put an end to the CEL. Heck, my dealership was quoting
more than that...$187 each, if they could get them.

There's not many part suppliers that make it so easy to ship parts to Canada.

[Tireiron]

Originally Posted by icingdeath88

Does it throw a code for the missing sensor?

My 96 has not thrown a code for the sensor being missing since I took it out 3 or so years ago. If the sensor is there and not working correctly it may (don't know, never had it come up) but with it not there no codes have come up.

[Huskymaniac]

Originally Posted by Tireiron

My 96 has not thrown a code for the sensor being missing since I took it out 3 or so years ago. If the sensor is there and not working correctly it may (don't know, never had it come up) but with it not there no codes have come up.

That surprises me but it doesn't surprise me at the same time. The thing is, technically, isn't it illegal to not have a pre-main cat O2 sensor on a 96+ car?

[Tireiron]

The front 2 sensors are there and working, just the rear one has been removed. It's also illegal in the states to remove any catalytic converters and in a lot of states it is illegal to modify the exhaust in ANY way. But if the exhaust is all there and all working and you unplug the rear O2 sensor and it doesn't throw a code, then oh well. It's still all there and the car is happy with it heh.

[jellybytes2]

My '97 was throwing a code recently when the rear sensor came unplugged. Plugged it back in and it's all happy.

[dromano]

I put in Bosch oxygen sensors in my 92 about 6 years ago, they work just fine. Have also been running Bosch +4 spark plugs since 1999. I get 27-28 mpg highway 20-22 mixed. I drive max 4000 per year.