rambo benson

We all know you should never cut and splice wire into O2 sensor wires...(except the mechanic who did it to my car to reach the new long tube headers- and he shall remain nameless!

Doing this throws the sensitive o2 sensor readings and gives your car the fits. Sure enough - Runs like crap now.....You must buy O2 extensions. I'm told that nothing else works, soldering or anything. But now that they have been cut I need a whole new wiring harness.

But the Painless wiring harness is $800! Sure, I could look for used PCM harnesses, but that's risky b/c they can be damaged easily if not very carefully taken off the donor car....Plus what a hassle to hook it all up again!

OK....I'm thinking of buying O2 extensions, cut one side connector off and just use the very best kind of solder possible to splice it onto the original harness wire. At least the wire will be the right kind.

Anyone been successful doing this? What kind of solder to use...the wire is copper. Can you "weld" the wires together with pure Copper?

Thanks!

jub jub

If care and proper soldering procedures are used, I don't see any problems with splicing. After soldering the connections, heat shrink should be slipped over the connection and shrunk to fit the wire. This will provide weather proof seal against the elements.

Kurtomac

iTrader: (5)

what the hell did he splice? the 02 sensor wire itself to make it longer or what....cuz 02 sensor with new 02 extensions dont cost anywhere near 800 bux....besides this point no harm in splicing into the 02 sensor...ive done it on 3 diff cars to make extensions and have had no problems

crazylane

iTrader: (19)

Yeah I spliced mine and put the heat shrink stuff on it, that came with the header install kit from Pacesetter!!! Have yet to have any problems here.

Lane

rambo benson

Kurtomac, yes, he extended the wire itself.... Usually I would get extensions like for my other car......if everybody is saying OK to solder and heat-shrink...we will certainly give it a try.

Thanks, I see 4 cars here at least with no problems soldering.

By the way, thanks for the quick replies!

Ram

cws T/A

iTrader: (3)

get a pair of 13111's or speed density tuned

.

mzoomora

iTrader: (36)

Yep, they have tons of extra length, even with LTs.

N4cer

iTrader: (11)

Speed density has nothing to do with using O2's or not. I'm Mass Air and running without O2's.

Beast96Z

iTrader: (21)

I've spliced almost every car I've ever owned. Hell I even spliced my rear 02' SS sensors into the front spot of my 97' silverado. I've completed 3 sets with splices and never had a problem.

GT Griller

iTrader: (8)

extra wire and electrical tape here and its been runnin fine for about 2yrs.

6-Speed Terror

iTrader: (4)

i did my header install and cut the o2 wires and extended them didnt have a problem at all

Super Speed

iTrader: (8)

13111's ftmfw!

chummmma

iTrader: (8)

i wouldnt solder them.... the o2 sensor wires are prone to different types of heat/cold/water etc.... solder can break.. i would get some mil spec wiring and connectors and crimp them properly... but thats just me... extending the wires if you dont have extensions isnt bad... just takes a little more time and doesnt look AS pretty.

rambo benson

Thanks all...we decided we are going to get new connectors, then use special tool to properly insert the wires..... Then I'll get extensions (hopefully long enough now that they are cut!)

Where do you guys get extensions, I forgot which vendor....

I would get those 13111 O2's with longer wires if we had not have just bought new ones....next time!

Thanks guys! Sure Appriciate it.

BlackScreaminMachine

iTrader: (17)

Exactly I have a friend that cut and spliced is to make them longer, didnt even solder and never threw a code, but def soldering is the properway to do it.

All this bearing in mind I personally would have just bought plug in a play 02 extensions

ArKay99

iTrader: (1)

My guess would be 1) Cold solder joint on one or more splices, or 2) 1 or more wires cross-spliced.

NOBR8KSS

iTrader: (12)

I would bet the problem is a short in the wire...many times the coating on the wire will melt off from the header heat and then short on the chassis or header. Check that out while you are under there.

DVS99TRANS

iTrader: (7)

Getting ready to splice mine Wednesday. I'm an electrician on C-130s don't see how a car would be any harder than wiring on an aircraft. Why spend the money if your confident that your splice will be just as efficient as the o2 extention.

GMC_DUDE

Spliced mine a while back when I installed the wide-band,and had no problem. BUT, you have to be careful. The wire strands (at least on mine) are plated with some metal that does not stick to solder. I had to take a pocket knife and scrape the strands down to the copper. Otherwise the solder would either not stick, or would stick very poorly, resulting in a bad connection.

matt3383

iTrader: (3)

add me to the list of lengthing the O2 wires. No problems.