Changing Driver Side o2 Sensor
Changing Driver Side o2 Sensor Ok, so I did a lot of maintenance to my '02 TA today. Long story short, I can not for the life of me get the driver side o2 sensor (closest to motor / pre-cat) to break loose. I have sprayed PB Blaster on it for 2 days straight and went out today to finally get this thing out and it WILL NOT budge. I have an o2 sensor socket, but I cant get a socket wrench on it due to the limited spacing. Also tried using a cheater bar on my 7/8 wrench and that doesn't help either. All the other o2's came out fine but this one has my blood pressure boiling! Any tips or ideas?
TECH Enthusiast
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 555
Likes: 0
From: NearHouston, TX
I broke both my ratchets on a rear brake caliber mount, could not loosen it! I even lowered the jack with a steel bar on ratchet, putting entire weight of car on the bolt and it would not budge after soaking in anti-seize for a day.
I had enough, I took the car to a friend's shop down the road, told him I'd pay him $20 to take off a bolt. He put car on stand, put air tools on it, then used a VERY long ratchet handle and got it off in less than 5 minutes.
I've been flamed for mentioning this story before, but screw it sometimes you gotta get it on a lift and get some leverage on things.
I had enough, I took the car to a friend's shop down the road, told him I'd pay him $20 to take off a bolt. He put car on stand, put air tools on it, then used a VERY long ratchet handle and got it off in less than 5 minutes.
I've been flamed for mentioning this story before, but screw it sometimes you gotta get it on a lift and get some leverage on things.
Staging Lane
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 52
Likes: 0
Ecologically unsound, but drive your car around to warm up the exhaust manifolds, stop, and hose down the O2 sensor with AC refrigerant till it is frosty. Then try torquing it out. Its a lot safer to your car to freeze than heat..
Ok, so I did a lot of maintenance to my '02 TA today. Long story short, I can not for the life of me get the driver side o2 sensor (closest to motor / pre-cat) to break loose. I have sprayed PB Blaster on it for 2 days straight and went out today to finally get this thing out and it WILL NOT budge. I have an o2 sensor socket, but I cant get a socket wrench on it due to the limited spacing. Also tried using a cheater bar on my 7/8 wrench and that doesn't help either. All the other o2's came out fine but this one has my blood pressure boiling! Any tips or ideas?
If the threads have fused, you'll need to put a special helicoil in there or replace the pipe. If not, I'd recommend getting a thread chasing tool just to clean up the threads before you put the new sensor in.
Wouldn't it be simpler and safer and less expensive to use dry ice? lol This is a great idea, though!
Just thought I'd chime back in on this topic I created. I finally got the stupid thing out. I ended up just using a Butane Torch and heating the o2 bung to a cherry red. Then putting my 7/8 wrench on it and it twisted out no problem. I was worried that I may have screwed up the threads within the bung, but to my fortune everything went good. My car had a very noticeable miss in it and was throwing the code for bank 1 sensor 1. After putting the new Denso in everything is going good. Here's hoping it stays that way.
