Every car, crossover, light-duty truck, and SUV needs to have an oxygen sensor in it. Uptown Imports is going to talk about oxygen sensors in this blog post. The first thing to know is that many people call the oxygen sensor the O2 sensor. Either way, this part plays a crucial role in measuring the emissions in your vehicle’s exhaust. Thankfully, you don’t need to worry about your vehicle’s emissions because we don’t have emissions testing in Minnesota. Still, your vehicle has an oxygen sensor, so let’s talk about this auto part.
What Does the Oxygen Sensor Do?
Let’s start by talking about where the oxygen sensor is located. The oxygen sensor is located at the beginning of your tailpipe. The reason for this location is simple: It is there to measure the oxygen levels in the exhaust. Your vehicle uses air and fuel to generate combustion in the combustion chamber. The burning of this air and fuel creates exhaust. Because air is being burned, there is oxygen in the exhaust, and the oxygen sensor keeps track of this. The oxygen sensor reports how much oxygen is in the exhaust to the main computer, the engine control module, so it can make adjustments in the combustion chamber if necessary.
Signs the Oxygen Sensor Is Bad
The average lifespan of an oxygen sensor generally runs from 60,000 miles to 90,000 miles, but some sensors last longer than 100,000 miles. Unfortunately, even though we don’t have emissions testing here in Minnesota, once your oxygen sensor dies, you need to have it replaced. Signs that your oxygen sensor is going bad include
- A check engine dashboard warning
- A noticeable loss of gas mileage
- Rotten egg smells in the exhaust
- Black exhaust smoke pouring out of the tailpipe
- High emissions in the exhaust
- Engine hesitation or stalling
- Engine bucking and surging
The reason why you start to have these engine performance problems is twofold. First, if the oxygen sensor is malfunctioning and sends the wrong data to the engine control module, it will make unnecessary adjustments to the fuel and air in the combustion chamber. This creates an imbalance that causes the engine performance issues, fuel economy reduction, and black exhaust discussed above.
Excess fuel in the combustion chamber can also create problems for your catalytic converter. In fact, the more exhaust that flows through the catalytic converter the greater chance it will become clogged. When this happens, the catalytic converter malfunctions and you smell rotten eggs.
Call Uptown Imports in Minneapolis, MN, today if you are experiencing any of the problems listed above. We will test your oxygen sensor and replace it if necessary.