Check your 02 sensor tightness!
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 922
Likes: 1
From: Brisbane Queensland, Australia
Check your 02 sensor tightness!
I just installed my new GM (Delco) oxygen (02) sensor into my '85.
I was pre-armed with all the documentation which says basically "These sensors are notorious for NOT wanting to come free, so you may as well start with a breaker bar..."
So following the guides to warm up the engine first, I put a ring spanner (yes, you CAN do it without using a special tool or box spanner!) to the old sensor and it came free with a mere lean on the spanner! - Given the torque settings for installing the new one are 30 foot-pounds, I'm guessing my old one was in at oh, say ONE foot-pound!!!
So my main reason for this post, is a suggestion that you all may like to check your sensor tightness, as for sure mine would've been leaking, being not much more than finger tight!
PS; the exhaust smell I was getting has now gone, so either THIS and/or going round and re torquing the exhaust manifold bolts, has cured this little problem.
Note; I cannot pick any discernable difference with the new sensor in place, but this of course will vary with the conditions of your sensor and age etc. I had no history of mine being replaced, but when you buy second hand cars, that's an unfortunate side effect.
I was pre-armed with all the documentation which says basically "These sensors are notorious for NOT wanting to come free, so you may as well start with a breaker bar..."
So following the guides to warm up the engine first, I put a ring spanner (yes, you CAN do it without using a special tool or box spanner!) to the old sensor and it came free with a mere lean on the spanner! - Given the torque settings for installing the new one are 30 foot-pounds, I'm guessing my old one was in at oh, say ONE foot-pound!!!
So my main reason for this post, is a suggestion that you all may like to check your sensor tightness, as for sure mine would've been leaking, being not much more than finger tight!
PS; the exhaust smell I was getting has now gone, so either THIS and/or going round and re torquing the exhaust manifold bolts, has cured this little problem.
Note; I cannot pick any discernable difference with the new sensor in place, but this of course will vary with the conditions of your sensor and age etc. I had no history of mine being replaced, but when you buy second hand cars, that's an unfortunate side effect.
Large Impressive Member
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 65,811
Likes: 71
From: Good health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die
St. Jude Donor '04-'05-'06-'07
I don't have any spanners, I just have wrenches. Will they work? 
A 7/8" wrench works for me every time. No special O2 socket needed on the Corvette. 
A 7/8" wrench works for me every time. No special O2 socket needed on the Corvette.
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 922
Likes: 1
From: Brisbane Queensland, Australia
Originally Posted by Corvette Kid NC
I don't have any spanners, I just have wrenches. Will they work?
A 7/8" wrench works for me every time. No special O2 socket needed on the Corvette.
A 7/8" wrench works for me every time. No special O2 socket needed on the Corvette. YES; If you CAN'T find any spanners, then a wrench should do just fine!
Le Mans Master
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 6,130
Likes: 2
From: seattle WA
funny, when I was about to change mine, most everyone said to warm up the engine before you pulled it, couple guys said they did it cold, so did I, didn't have to fight with a hot manifold, didn't come out hard, but it wasn't lose either...since I had to cut the wire on the old one anyway a wrench worked just fine.
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 922
Likes: 1
From: Brisbane Queensland, Australia
Originally Posted by rick lambert
funny, when I was about to change mine, most everyone said to warm up the engine before you pulled it, couple guys said they did it cold, so did I, didn't have to fight with a hot manifold, didn't come out hard, but it wasn't lose either...since I had to cut the wire on the old one anyway a wrench worked just fine.
Ditto with mine; some dill had (maybe during left to right hand drive conversion?) connected the old one with the matching wire using simple crimped spade lugs.
My new one has a proper weather-pack connector, so I (eventually found a matching MALE weather pack connector - FROM, GET THIS: A Korean Daewoo (Now owned, like almost everything ELSE, by GM!) cut mine off and used a ring spanner..sorry 'WRENCH' to you guys and no dramas
Large Impressive Member
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 65,811
Likes: 71
From: Good health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die
St. Jude Donor '04-'05-'06-'07
Originally Posted by smacko
HA HA HA!!!
YES; If you CAN'T find any spanners, then a wrench should do just fine!
YES; If you CAN'T find any spanners, then a wrench should do just fine!
I always enjoy kidding with you folks about those differences and the fact that you drive on the wrong side of the road! 
Racer
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 405
Likes: 0
From: 1984 crossfire, Alhaurin de la Torre Malaga, Spain
and the fact that you drive on the wrong side of the road!
________________________________________ __________________
They gonna change that!! First trucks and busses and after a year the other traffic.
By the way, did drive a while around Perth, Changing road side was really well worth it. I am dreaming since to come again
________________________________________ __________________
They gonna change that!! First trucks and busses and after a year the other traffic.
By the way, did drive a while around Perth, Changing road side was really well worth it. I am dreaming since to come again
Corvette Stories
The Best of Corvette for Corvette Enthusiasts
Top 10 Most Expensive Corvettes Ever Sold on Bring A Trailer
Brett Foote
10 Things Every Corvette Owner Needs (2026 Edition)
Michael S. Palmer
8 Most "Only Corvette Owners Understand" Quirks and Problems
Pouria Savadkouei
10 Reasons the C6 Z06 is Still A Performance Benchmark After 20 Years
Joe Kucinski
How Much Horsepower Every Corvette Engine "LOST" in 1972
Joe Kucinski
Top 10 DOs and DON'Ts for Protecting Your Convertible Top!
Michael S. Palmer
Top 10 Most Explosive Corvettes Ever Made: Power-to-Weight Ratio Ranked!
Joe Kucinski
150 hp to 1,250 hp: Every Corvette Generation Compared by the Specs That Matter
Joe Kucinski
8 Coolest Corvette Pace Cars (and Replicas) of All Time
Verdad Gallardo
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 922
Likes: 1
From: Brisbane Queensland, Australia
Originally Posted by 95wht6spd
SOme come with anti-seize on the threads, or was probably put on before installing so they came out easily.
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 922
Likes: 1
From: Brisbane Queensland, Australia
Originally Posted by Corvette Kid NC
What has always been said about the US and Great Britain also applies to your great land and the US too, "Two great countries separated by a common language!" I always enjoy kidding with you folks about those differences and the fact that you drive on the wrong side of the road!
I always enjoy kidding with you folks about those differences and the fact that you drive on the wrong side of the road!
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 922
Likes: 1
From: Brisbane Queensland, Australia
Originally Posted by Nico
and the fact that you drive on the wrong side of the road!
________________________________________ __________________
They gonna change that!! First trucks and busses and after a year the other traffic.
By the way, did drive a while around Perth, Changing road side was really well worth it. I am dreaming since to come again
________________________________________ __________________
They gonna change that!! First trucks and busses and after a year the other traffic.
By the way, did drive a while around Perth, Changing road side was really well worth it. I am dreaming since to come again