Oxygen Sensor

Can any garage mechanics tell me what it would cost to have the oxygen sensor replaced on my Toyota Tacoma pickup? Goes on exhaust pipe I believe. A quick check on line says I can buy one for $70.00. Thanks for any response.

Depends on where it is located in the exhaust stream. If it's up in the manifold they aren't the best for doing at home. If it's in the exaust pipe it can be changed in about 10min. Just look for a spark plug looking part with 1-3 wires coming out of it and it will have a connecter on it. You can do it your self for a lot less money. The dealer should only charge about 1hr shop rate. BUT how many O2 sensors do you have? Most newer vehicles have 2-4 sensors. Would hate you replace the wrong one. They usually place them 1 in each manifold on the engine then 1 or 2 [depending on make] down by the cat converter. Hope this helps

Bartt,

I have had Toyota's since 1979.

Go to ToyotaNation. There you will find a forum dedicated to the Tacoma. Search and you will find exactly how to change o2, A/F sensors.

There are 2 or 3 sensors depending on I4 or V6.

The upstream sensors are located in the exhaust manifold/s. These are actually A/F(air/fuel) sensors and directly feedback/control the fuel injector pulse length and timing.

They are easily changed. Hard part is getting to them. BUY the specialized o2 sensor socket it has a slot cut in it and makes changing them much easier.

Most people on TN swear by OEM or Denso sensors.
Some have success with Bosche, others do not.

Do you have a code reader? If so it tells exactly which sensor is NG. Many auto parts stores will read your codes for free.

Feel free to email me directly if you need more info.

Pete

The O2 sensors upstream of the cats need to be in spec.
Keep the old O2 senors from upstream of the cat and keep them incase a down stream of the cat O2 sensor outright fails.
The O2 sensors downstream of a Cat can be out of spec and still work ok. They just function as a no-go or go indicator.

Just to add to what the others have said and a "Just for what it's worth",

I'd just about bet that 90% of all O2 sensor replacements are done needlessly.

Someone will run a scan, see that O2 "out of range" code and immediately justify in his own mind that the sensor is bad. Wrong.

Actually, the sensor is doing exactly what it's supposed to do and just simply reporting a bad mix in the exhaust.

So, at the end of the day, Barnyard Billy will end up presenting ya with a bill for an O2 replacement AND a new air filter, leaky exhaust gasket, leaky injector, or whatever the original cause of the bad reading was in the first place. :>)

Allan

I had a toyota, and the maintenance interval calls for changing the O2 sensor, regardless of its functionality. I did not replace mine and had no issues. I would not worry if there are no trouble codes showing up.

I had one go bad at 130,xxx miles. All it did was give me poor gas mileage and the check engine light kept coming on. Everything ran fine but fixed it anyway -myself. Do it if it needs it, otherwise don't waste your money. Things are tough enough.

As O2 sensors age they loose sensitivity. A richer mixture is required in the exhaust to maintain the same output voltage. The richer mixture costs you fuel efficiency and increases tail pipe emissions. Also shortens convertor life by raising it's operating temp.
Ever price a cat convertor? Makes an O2 sensor look cheap.

Thank you all for your great help. It certainly made my day. I,ll locate it and change it myself. Ya'll have a great day and thank you. Dick in Vermont.

I've heard the saying of "pay, etc." a litle differently as "Pay me now or pay me (more) later."

You will likely need to buy a special socket to change the sensor with.
But maybe not.

There is a book that tells the shop how much time is required to do most any job described.

In fact many mechanics are paid @ book time and can make more money by getting it done sooner.

Now about your part and having it changed.

The part usually just screws in and unplugs from a connector on it's wire. Of cource the threads are usually pretty much self welded in place from all the heat involved at that location in the exhaust system. So a torch may be needed to facilitate removal. Then the special wrench too that may be required so that it doesn't strip out, or break off during the job.

Now after the experienced trained mechanic uses his learned skills to remove and replace this part, you have to ask yourself if it was in fact the sensor itself that was bad or was it some connection or other component that made the computer kick out the O2 sensor code. It could even be something else entirely that threw the O2 out of it's available range leaving a prefectly good part be replaced without reason.

What I am trying to say is there may be more work involved that something like screw it out screw it in Presto!

"I'd just about bet that 90% of all O2 sensor replacements are done needlessly."

Just out of curiosity, do you have anything to back up that statement? I do driveability/electrical diagnostics, and I have replaced plenty of oxygen sensors. A good percentage of them are four wire heated sensors that the heater element is open. This problem can be very easily verified using an ohm meter. For the sensors that trouble codes indicate slow reaction or out of range, there are scan tool data streams that show long term adaptives and short term adaptives. Also, some manufacturers use operating cell stratagies that can help verify the problem. I normally can be sure most of the time before I replace an oxygen sensor. After I replace a sensor, I do enough test driving for the ECM to run its monitors that can verify systems operation. There is one specific problem that I will "throw" an oxygen sensor at. Some cars will set catalytic converter efficiency codes. There are times that I cannot be sure if the sensors are causing the problem, or if the cat is bad, so on occasion I will recommend trying new oxygen sensors first, then test driving and recheck the monitors. The reason that I do it this way, is because catalytic converters on some models are rather expensive. By the way, some newer models use something called an "air fuel ratio sensor" instead of the traditional oxygen sensor. I hope that all this isn't too technical for you, Allan, but the point of this post is that there is a lot to proper oxygen sensor diagnostics, and it takes a lot of skill, experience and training to do it properly. My shop probably has over $20,000 just in scan tools and I need a couple more to be efficient.
Hope this helps,

Ted, you know you can test a cat by warming the engine up fully, disable ignition to one cylinder, run the engine about 1200 rpms, and check the inlet and outlet temp with an IR temp probe right? If the catalyst is working, the outlet will be significantly hotter...

I am aware of that test. However, I see a few that it can take a month or so to reset the cat efficiency code if I clear it and have the customer drive it. If a car resets the code fairly quickly, then it isn't too hard to nail it down. I have often wished that I was better with reading lab scope patterns for oxygen sensors. There are only so many hours in the day... LOL
Thanks for the reply,
Ted

(quoted from post at 19:10:41 02/12/11) You will likely need to buy a special socket to change the sensor with.
But maybe not.

Click to expand...

Yeap, you can get the socket at O'Reighys auto parts ($10). Be sure to put anti-seeze on the threads of the new 02 and clear the CEL once the new o2 is in.