Roger, you have been watching too many old Sherlock Holmes movies!

 

Lol...The pics I took just portrays what I did when I took the sensor out.

Lay off on the Columbo re-runs Rog.

 

I don't even watch TV, haven't for years (except for Cops on Sat evening), but I absolutely loved Colombo! He was a piece of work wasn't he? I might still be watching TV if they had something decent like him on instead of the garbage they have today. I especially loved that Pu-zhow (SP?- Ha Ha!) convertible that he drove. Had to have a strong self image to drive that and wear that trench coat!

 

I just want to say thank you to everyone who provided input & insight with regards to replacing the air/fuel sensor. I was pressed for time, so I bought the part at Advanced Auto Parts for 170.00 I would have loved to get the OEM part from Amazon and save a few bucks, but I was in a time crunch. Advanced Auto Parts sells a Bosch air/fuel sensor and not Denso, but Bosch supplies tons of car manufacturers so the quality has to be up there. Thanks again.

 

I wish you luck with the Bosch sensor Chin, but I wouldn't personally use them. There are other things Bosch makes that I wouldn't use. Denso makes some of the finest parts in the entire auto industry. I have more and more taken to buying OEM parts on the "Net" so that I can get the right part without paying the insane mark-up that the dealer gets. I spent my life in automotive work and over the years came to realize that MANY (even good name brand) did not equal the quality of the OEM quite a bit of the time and often did not give the life the OEM most of the time did. I have had parts that cost almost as much at an auto parts store as the OEM go bad in a fraction of the time the OEM lasted. The reason I prefer not to use them. There has been a post within the last week that the OEM Denso A/F ratio sensor could be bought on Amazon for $113.

 

Isn't there also an issue of the sensor output? Even if the Bosch sensor performs as designed, doesn't the Toyota ECU have trouble "understanding" the Bosch output?

 

My wife and I live in Atlanta. She works in NY sometimes and has the RX there. The car failed inspection, so it was begging to get tickets parked on the street if I didn't do something soon. So I flew up to NY this weekend and basically had less than a day to fix the car (Sunday). Everywhere closes early and I was pretty excited just to find an exact fit sensor (without any splicing needed). The check engine light would illuminate within 15 or so miles of me clearing the code, swapped the sensor and it hasn't been on in almost 100 miles. I paid 180.00 for the sensor locally, Amazon had it for around 115.00 What I am going to do is return the Amazon sensor to the local auto parts store and basically save myself the 65.00 difference. If the Bosch does not hold up, I will report back to you guys... hopefully it does though.

Funny thing is that while I was in NY, I found this guy selling a 1995 Toyota Avalon that looked pretty clean. Radiator was leaking, needed rear brakes, and the check engine light was on. Long story short, I bought the car for 650.00 Drove it home and hooked it up to the scanner. Same sensor on the same bank was bad. I'll replace it when I fly up there again. Luckily that sensor was only 65.00

 

Of course not Art, if you were Japanese and someone was speaking German to you, would you understand???

 

Due to similar DNA/chromosomes, they can mate. My concern for any cross brand transducer is in their nominal output and delta change in output for a change in the input.

The sensor in discussion has low ohm nominal value and very small delta change. So the transducer material and manufacturing procedures must be identical to obtain equivalence. In general I stick with OEM and for this sensor in particular I would opt for OEM.

The other issue is, if there are problems down the road, non-OEM sensors always add certain level of uncertainty. Part of debug is relying on all other things to be in expected good condition.

All of the above apply in a normal situation, where a person has time and additional money at hand.


Salim

 

I purchased 2 Bosch sensors this week. Both from Amazon. The sensor for my Toyota Avalon was made in the USA. The sensor for my RX300 was made in Japan.

 

I purchased a Denso 234-9009 $110 including delivery on Amazon which I installed myself in Bank 2 Sensor 1 on my RX300 using information I got from this group and my trusty adjustable pipe wrench. The connector was a pain... Thank you very much everyone! I also bought for $83 including shipping a Toyota 89467-48011 on Ebay marked for a Highlander which I knew would fit my Lexus. That one I had Lexus install in Bank 1 Sensor 1 for $127. I could have saved about $40 taking it my mechanic, but because of the possibility of any additional problems thought it might be a good idea to let the dealer do the work and figured they wouldn't complain since it was the same part they sell themselves. They said I also need a transmission gasket replaced and want $260 for that. By the way, they washed my car while I was there so I guess that added some extra value. LOL This group is great and I ended up paying $320 for a job that was originally quoted to me at $800 thanks to all of you.

 

Welcome to the Club.

I ordered two 234-9009 sensors also from Amazon and they should be here any day now. Plan to compare the readings before and after installation. Given the hell those sensors went through on Mexican gas, it will be interesting, even though they are running well I know they took a beating.

 

Nasty pictures of my two a/f sensors coming up. I've never replaced these sensors in the time I owned the vehicle, but I did remember that on a trip to Lexus once while I still lived in Mexico that I did have my O2 (after cat sensor) changed out.

I actually started out with the rear sensor first and sure enough I needed the long oxygen sensor socket described in this DIY to do the trick. You couldn't get a wrench in there.

 

This wasn't as nasty as the front one, but the years in Mexico certainly took their total on the rear sensor. There was actually and ash like material inside of the holes in the sensor itself.

 

And the front sensor came off only via this method (the socket wrench I used for the rear sensor was useless). This front sensor was stuck on there really tight. A 1/2 inch square end fits into that hole at the top of this tool.