I have to remove the rear O2 and use them as my primary O2 from now on. When I pulled the sensors out of the H pipe one of the threads was mangled. So I either have to buy one replacement O2 or take my front ones and lengthen the wires (by cutting and soldering extentions), can this be done?

 

Yes, this can be done. I've lengthen 02 wires in the past. I just stripped off the black mesh covering (so I could trace the exact wires I was cutting), then cut and spliced some addtional length of wire (using similar/same gauge wire). I then soldered and then heat shrunk them. Voila...homemade extensions. They worked great.

 

thanks!!

 

As per GM :
Notice: Do not remove the pigtail from either the heated oxygen sensor (HO2S) or the oxygen sensor (O2S).
Removing the pigtail or the connector will affect sensor operation.Handle the oxygen sensor carefully. Do not drop the HO2S.
Keep the in-line electrical connector and the louvered end free of grease, dirt, or other contaminants.
Do not use cleaning solvents of any type.
Do not repair the wiring, connector or terminals.
Replace the oxygen sensor if the pigtail wiring, connector, or terminal is damaged.
This external clean air reference is obtained by way of the oxygen sensor signal and heater wires.

Any attempt to repair the wires, connectors, or terminals could result in the obstruction of the air reference and degraded sensor performance.The following guidelines should be used when servicing the heated oxygen sensor:

• Do not apply contact cleaner or other materials to the sensor or vehicle harness connectors. These materials may get into the sensor causing poor performance.

• Do not damage the sensor pigtail and harness wires in such a way that the wires inside are exposed. This could provide a path for foreign materials to enter the sensor and cause performance problems.

• Ensure the sensor or vehicle lead wires should not be bent sharply or kinked. Sharp bends or kinks could block the reference air path through the lead wire.

• Do not remove or defeat the oxygen sensor ground wire (where applicable). Vehicles that utilize the ground wired sensor may rely on this ground as the only ground contact to the sensor. Removal of the ground wire will cause poor engine performance.

• Ensure that the peripheral seal remains intact on the vehicle harness connector in order to prevent damage due to water intrusion. The engine harness may be repaired using Packard's Crimp and Splice Seals Terminal Repair Kit. Under no circumstances should repairs be soldered since this could result in the air reference being obstructed.

 

Yea Yea Yea, GM says not to and I have successfully extended several harnesses with ZERO negative effects.

Mike

 

Yes you can extend them without a problem.

 

negative nancy.

 

I posted for informational purposes. It's Y'alls cars you can do what ever you want to them.

 

Me too! GM justs wants you to buy new ones.

 

GM also says not to "mod" these cars................

 

Yea, Yea, Yea, I suggest you read up and learn how a O2 works, has nothing to do with GM as they use what EPA required.
Cutting off the outside reference airflow is like shoving a apple in your throat. If you cannot see negative effects then you need to revamp how you determine that.
The rear O2s are not almost double the price as the fronts for nothing, its the cost of those special wires with a air channel in them that make up the costs.

 

You would not want to do this for a couple of reasons.

1. Rear O2 requires a bit hotter internal heater so using a front in rear will not work as well.
2. O2 MUST have outside reference air to compare to, cutting its wire and you cause that O2 to report differently then the others
3. As O2s age they slow down and do not report as correctly as new, also each head has slightly differnt exhaust content. You could be taking a front O2 that is worse then others and using it in rear causing a more imbalanced reporting by that O2.

Best case is if you replacing a O2 for front or rears is to also replace its partner on the other side so they both are switching at the same rate.

 

a whole lot of speculation a go'en on here! But I agree with not cutting the wires. I would just throw a scanner on it a see what the voltages do (would need a before and after). These sensors do work in the mv range so it is quite possiable that splicing the wires would affect the outputs, but then it could be so small if the connections are high quality there may be very little change.

Essentially the o2 sensor is like a thermistor but changes resistance with the level of O2 in the stream. Splicing the wire effectively puts the resistance of the splice in series with the sensor (both directions supplied voltage as well as reference and signal out).

I think some will get away with it and and others won't! For me personally, I went with new sensors just to be sure! I don't need to be crawling around trouble shooting little PIAs. Being that I am fussy about the tune and these things control a whole bunch of stuff!

 

Bluedragon good point for the O2 most of the time is running at around only .450 mVolts and and spilce would have a effect not only on the bias .450 the PCM sends the O2s but then the differences above and below that send from O2 to PCM.
Also if splices were not done very well the O2 as it heats up can suck water into the airchannel and get plugged up and really cause O2 to functon even worse.

As to using a PCM scanner, the O2 should switch at least once every 100 mSecs and you cannot see that with most scanners for they are too slow so a scope is really needed.

 

boosted, I use HPT SW. While it does not catch every switch of the 02s it would provide a general average increase or decrease in the readings, enough so that you could see the effect of a splice if there was one. I don't think you would neeed to look at every one.

 

Well it might be a moot point. When I went out to the garage last night to solder the wires together I couldn't get the solder to adhere to the O2 wireing. I think it might have some type of coating on it. I tried several different things but no luck. I guess I will have to pick a new one up at the autoparts store today.

 

You guys MOD your cars?? I would never think of doing that....

 

Can't you just can buy O2 extensions that just plug in?

 

I thought that LG had lengthened extensions already made up? NO?

 

When I put in my LGs I had to cut the 02 sensor plug off the fronts and put them on the rears. Talk about a fun project. There is a #@$%load of wires. Works fine though.