NAC..'00 VW Passat 4Motion...$7200 in repairs!!!

[Brett Dikeman]

On Jun 10, 2005, at 3:46 PM, Robert Myers wrote:

> AFAIK, an oxygen sensor is an oxygen sensor is an oxygen sensor.
> As long as you stick with the proper number of wires, 1, 3 or 4,  
> and as long as the proper wires are connected to the right place in  
> the car's wiring harness all newly purchased oxygen sensors are  
> identical.

No, # of wires does not -necessarily- identify the type (for example,  
some VW 2.0L engines used a 3-wire sensor that was somewhat wideband)  
and there are -several- wideband types (3? I forget), which are  
rather incompatible with each other and narrow-band systems.

To make matters more complicated, some get the reference air from the  
jacket of the cable (which is sealed to the body of the sensor), and  
others get it from somewhere on the end or the body.

The sealed type are REQUIRED for sensors down low where water, dirt,  
road salt, etc. can and will get into the other type.

Also- someone posted to the list about generic cats usually being  
undersized compared to the OEM unit.  If you replace with an  
aftermarket/generic unit, make sure it's rated sufficiently (not sure  
how your average joe would do such a thing...)

Brett
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