Can't say I wasn't warned ! My eBay Bosch Universal 02 sensor arrived and after careful splicing I installed it. (right after cat) Within minutes the CEL came on "Check Engine Electronics". I re installed the original sensor, that never caused a CEL, but the CEL light continues to appear? Should that light go out now or will it have to be cleared with a OBD Scanner?
There's always the possibility I didn't splice the wires adequately ? They are attached in the correct order but may have a weak connection ? I'll probably have an electronic shop splice them for me or should I call it quits ?
Cheers, Chato
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Vehicle: 2001 E430 Sport in Desert Silver and 2002 C320 Sport Wagon in Arctic White
Location: Germantown, Maryland
Posts: 1,510
I don't know much about the universal sensors because a stay away from any universal parts for my cars. But you will need a scanner to clear the codes after you get the issues fixed.
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The ECM will require several start/stop/driving cycles and if things are in order the light will then go out. Or you can clear it with an OBDII meter, but it's probably just as easy to wait.
Re: the sensor, when you say you spliced them in the right order, what exactly do you mean? If you just matched alignment then that may well be a misguided attempt; the order they come out of the sensor (particularly a generic one) isn't determinative of their purpose. Two are for the preheater, the other two are for the sensor readings itself. Hopefully if it is mis-spliced, it doesn't do anything nasty to the sensor or (worse) to the other engine systems. Without a wiring diagram from the car and for the new sensor you're simply playing Russian roulette.
Of course it's always possible you have a defective knock-off sensor, but there's no way to know that until you are 100% sure the wires are correct. Hopefully the shop can figure it out, or you can see about a return on the one you bought and buy a fully-configured OEM one; that is probably cheaper than paying a mechanic to splice in the other one correctly.
Good luck in the new year.
Take care and enjoy the ride,
Greg
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Thanks for the input. The eBay Bosch sensor looked identical to the one I replaced. The 4 wires were the same color as the original; 1 black, 1 gray and 2 white. I can't see how I could have gone wrong there ? I didn't have a crimper, as recommended, so I used my locking pliers and I was confident the connections were sound?
What constitutes a "drive cycle" Would it have to be a minimum length of a mile or so ?
A drive cycle is a cold start, full warm up of the engine, achieving a certain speed (I don't recall what it is) and a full cool down. A normal trip to work and back is two of them.
Locking pliers would probably get a decent connection, but it's hard to be sure. Even with a cheap crimper, you're tossing the dice. I wouldn't be without a good crimper; I prefer Klein.
Vehicle: 2001 E430 Sport in Desert Silver and 2002 C320 Sport Wagon in Arctic White
Location: Germantown, Maryland
Posts: 1,510
Driving cycles can be complicated. I'm not sure about MB, we would have to look it up. But on some makes it can be some of the following
1 number of Key starts
2 Number of miles driven at operating temp
3 Number of miles driven at certain speeds
4 number of cold starts
5 Number of warm starts
etc.
It can be any combinations of the above plus more. If you are going to wait. Just drive you cars as you would and it should go off sooner or later. I once saw a manual that defined a drive cycle for each make, I just cant remember who it was by. It could have been All Data.
Funny how the memory plays tricks on you past 40...
It seems like the reset is 7 or 8 start/stop/driving cycles with an accumulation of 45 miles or thereabouts. You don't have to bring the engine to full op temp during each cycle.
Now I'm curious, if you didn't have a CEL why did you replace the sensor in the first place?
Re: the splicing, did it come with some kind of connectors so you cut and stripped your old connector wires to the new sensor? In-line crimp connectors are pretty foolproof, so if by locking pliers you mean vise-grips and you pulled on the wires to ensure they didn't pull free of your crimp job, you're probably okay there. I'm not sure whether the white wires are interchangeable, if not perhaps they are reversed on your splice connections? (Your tale is why I'm leery of generic sensors, ebay or otherwise.)
Hello Greg: I have 117,000 miles on original 02 sensors. I'm in the process of replacing all 4. I ordered 2 from Autohaus, bought 1 Bosch locally for $149 + tax and figured I'd try the eBay one ! The car runs real nice but my gas milage sucks with about 12 mpg in town. I figure the O2 sensors are responsible for the poor milage. When an ignition coil failed recently a code came up at MB that a sensor's heating element was kaput so I replaced it with the $149 Bosch, no problems there. I'll drive the car for a week or so and hope the CEL goes off. If not I'll clear it with an OBD II scanner. Thanks again, Chato
Just to get the CEL to recycle he doesn't need to do that. Rather, if you use an OBDII meter to clear the codes, it resets everything to "not ready". Since you have to be in "ready" mode to have an emission test, you have to follow that drive cycle before an emission test. But to simply clear a CEL (assuming everything is kosher again) it's just a series of starts and stops with enough mile accumulation. When I did my MAF it extinguished the afternoon of the next day, not that big a deal. (Of course, you could do the "ready" driving cycle but that's overkill.)
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