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Failing O2 Sensor?

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Old Dec 26, 2009 | 08:22 PM
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Default Failing O2 Sensor?

I was working on the car today whenever I started it and left it in park at operating temp I started hearing loud popping noise (like a firework exploding). This is what I know:
The SES light is flashing
My Air/Fuel Ratio gauge no longer reads,
It only "pops" whenever in park or neutral; not in any gear
Car runs fine going down the highway or street
The sound is distinguishable from the back of the car at the exhaust tips, not from the engine bay.
So is one of my O2 sensors failing? I don't have my scanner with me to scan and get the code yet.
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Old Dec 26, 2009 | 09:17 PM
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The poping is also sporadic and non-consistent with anything that I have noticed.
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Old Dec 27, 2009 | 09:41 AM
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Could be - but you really need to check the code. Something is throwing off your air/fuel mixture, which may or may not be the O2 sensor. The codes will point you in a more accurate direction. Replacing the O2 sensor is an expensive experiment. Any local auto parts store should be able to scan the car for you and give you the codes.
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Old Dec 27, 2009 | 02:52 PM
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There is some black smoke coming out of the exhaust when it runs, there is a cat on the car.
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Old Dec 27, 2009 | 04:43 PM
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A flashing CE light means it's misfiring. The popping noise you're hearing is probably unburnt fuel igniting in the manifold or the cats.

You said you were "working on the car". What did you do?

Your airfuel gauge doesn't read because it's off the scale rich. Narrowband O2s are worthless anyway.

It doesn't do it in gear because there's a load on the motor and it's using more fuel.

It doesn't do it on the road for the same reason.
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Old Dec 27, 2009 | 06:10 PM
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+1 on failing O2 sensor. ive been down that road before, only got a missfire code once in a while but no O2 code.it had the same symptoms as youres. turned out the O2 was switching much slower that it shouldve been.
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Old Dec 27, 2009 | 06:57 PM
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My air/fuel is reading very lean (not reading, just sitting there). Still not sure what the code is.
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Old Dec 27, 2009 | 07:16 PM
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The work being done on the car, was install new ported throttle body and we checked all the plugs, coils and wires and everything looked fine; plugs had good burn pattern, everything connected properly and clicked on.
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Old Dec 27, 2009 | 07:28 PM
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Originally Posted by Formulals187
The work being done on the car, was install new ported throttle body and we checked all the plugs, coils and wires and everything looked fine; plugs had good burn pattern, everything connected properly and clicked on.
Alot of times when people take their spark plug wires off and on.....they put them back on and one or more of them are touching the exhaust manifold piping. That will cause the flashing SES light, which I believe means "multiple" misfires.

Make sure none are touching or banging up against anything metal.

The black smoke means you are running rich. That would point to failing 02 sensor(s). Which can also cause misfires.

.
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Old Dec 27, 2009 | 07:46 PM
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It'd be one thing if it just started happening, but the fact that it started happening after he worked on his car seems pretty straight forward. Make sure the plug wires are snapped on well. It's hard to get a lot of muscle on the difficult to reach ones.
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Old Dec 27, 2009 | 11:32 PM
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All the plugs are snapped on securely and none are touching any part of the header. The car had a problem with misfiring before hand, the issue was a small problem with a coil, once that was fixed the problem surfaced.
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Old Dec 28, 2009 | 03:20 PM
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sorry to thread jack..... well its only sorta a thread jack...... do people here go to oxygensensors.com to get their sensors or do they buy them at the dealer or somewhere else? i ask because ive had good luck with oxygensensors.com for other cars but never on an ls1 and wanted to know if the walker or denso sensors they sell on that site will work good with a '98 ls1
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Old Dec 28, 2009 | 05:31 PM
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Originally Posted by Siciliano15
sorry to thread jack..... well its only sorta a thread jack...... do people here go to oxygensensors.com to get their sensors or do they buy them at the dealer or somewhere else? i ask because ive had good luck with oxygensensors.com for other cars but never on an ls1 and wanted to know if the walker or denso sensors they sell on that site will work good with a '98 ls1
Very popular place for LSx people:

www.rockauto.com Get the Denso 02 sensors....they are the best available on the market. $45.00 each with wires.

.
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Old Dec 28, 2009 | 10:58 PM
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You really need to check the code. If it is a sensor that is failing, it will tell you which one.
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Old Dec 29, 2009 | 01:02 AM
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Alright, so I switched to a ported throttle body. The codes thrown were P0300, P0357, P0507 and P1637. I know that the first 2 codes are because of the issues I had with my ignition that are now fixed, and since switching the throttle body I've noticed the car idles higher but not sure what the hell the P1637 code really means or how to fix the high idle speed.
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Old Dec 29, 2009 | 10:37 AM
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http://gearchatter.com/viewtopic8959...f38652bd6eda75
Hope this helps
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Old Dec 29, 2009 | 05:32 PM
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So what am I supposed to do to fix it?
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Old Dec 29, 2009 | 06:32 PM
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Originally Posted by Formulals187
So what am I supposed to do to fix it?
get the code.... If the popping is comming out of the intake, or the engine side, you have an ignition issue, then I would recheck the plugs and wires to make sure they are hooked up and not resting on the exhaust. if the pop is comming from the exhaust it is a fuel issue... if the problem happened after you checked all the plugs and installed the throttle body, work your way backwards from that...
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Old Dec 29, 2009 | 08:24 PM
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Popping is coming out of the exhaust. Could it be from the fact that the new intake runs the engine at higher rpms and the fuel curves aren't caught up yet
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Old Dec 30, 2009 | 06:15 PM
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Is it possibly from the higher idle speed from the ported throttle body?
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