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A little over 3 years ago I bought a used 2003 Z06. It has an aftermarket exhaust of some kind (I haven't been able to figure out what exactly) and a Vararam intake.
I was getting O2 codes and so sent my PCM off to be tuned. When I got it back I was still getting front O2 codes and so replaced the sensors with new ACDelco sensors. The codes went away for a year, (maybe 4k miles?) and the mixture smelled a LOT less rich. Skip forward to this spring and the codes are back, the exhaust smells grossly rich again.
I was stuck in a line leaving a parking garage after a concert last weekend and I'm pretty sure my fumes killed everyone in there.
After reading as many threads as I can find it appears that my issue may be solved by installing rear O2 sensors in the front with adapters.
Is this correct? Would this likely solve my error code problem and clean up my exhaust?
Thanks for any help & advice.
TLDR: Will rear O2 sensors in the front solve error codes and rich mix on aftermarket exhaust?
You will find the correct answers by running a 20 minutes scan/log using the GM test procedure. There are many reasons for the font O2's to foul and instead of chasing gremlins, get the car scanned. If you do not have the necessary equipment, EFILive, HP Tuners, etc., find a friend who does. if all those don't work then get a tuner, like COW, who has remote scan/tune tool to have this done.
So the car has headers? If so I would say putting the rear o2's in the front would probably take care of it. Both of those codes are bank 1 and 2 sensor 1 o2 slow response. Pretty common for those codes to pop up from headers since it moves the o2 further downstream in the exhaust and away from the heat. The rear o2's have stronger heaters in them and that is why moving them to the front will a lot of times eliminate these codes. But yes you will have to get the adapter harnesses. Do you have cats on the car? If not that is probably a lot of the reason the exhaust smells so rich.
I honestly really have no idea what it has. When I took it in for state inspection for the first time, while it was on the lift the mechanic said "Woo, that probably cost someone a bit!" and pointed at the exhaust.
This being my first and only C5 I don't know what the stock exhaust looks like. I googled for some pics and based on that I think it has headers, yes. I also think it has cats. I took some bad pictures and uploaded in case anyone can verify my guesses.
Yep. You have headers and cats. I would try putting rear o2's in the front and see what that does if the codes are still there you will have to get it tuned out. Make sure you get a good o2 sensor like Acdelco or denso (same thing). Stay away from that Bosch junk.