I got a 06 LS2 Corvette a month ago and I have been through 3 O2 sensors in just this past month. It keeps throwing the O2 heater circuit codes and then the O2 sensors start acting up. It's just 1 side at a time, not both at the same time. It's strange because sometimes it works fine and then when it starts acting up, if I get the rpm's up then it typically straightens up. Its cammed with longtubes and straight piped. I use torque pro to watch the sensors and when one messes up, it either doesn't work or works perfectly fine. I ohm'd the passenger side connector out when I replaced it and the connector was fine. I am stumped. I'm getting ready to let my tuner look at it. Any suggestions??

 

Do you have HP tuner software and what codes are you getting?

 

I don't have HP tuners. I use torque pro with a obd bluetooth adapter to monitor stuff. The codes I'm getting right now is P0030 and P0135

 

this has been my project for a few weeks now. As of right now, at idle your o2s, if on stock values, are gunna be slow as **** my car is depicted here...first is tuned, second is untuned. It helps but i havent fully been able to keep the codes off. The heat thing is tough unless the headers are wrapped or ceramic coated. Right now in my tune i reduced idle spark by 4 degrees in attempt tp get my exhaust hotter to help aid the situation. Eventually this condition will smoke an o2. Im still experimenting with mine but here is where i am at so far and as you can see its a big improvement.


Untuned.

 

You will need to adjust the idle proportional fuel, o2 error and your intergral delay. Dropping the idle spark, while watching manifold vacuum and seing how much you can get away with, will help as well. All is done to my car above. Stock cam, blower, longtubes 1 7/8 and ORY. All these are even more crtical on a cammed car

 

Thanks for the reply. I will show this to my tuner when I have him take a look at it. So if I ceramic coat the headers, will that make this situation easier to take care of? I have heard that it makes it easier to control the heat.

 

I am lazy and didn't look up the code you are seeing but eventually you'll get the heater codes in conjunction with slow response codes yatta yatta. Yes controlling the heat makes a big difference as the o2s need to hit 600 degrees..ish to function to their full potential. However these values still need to be adjusted for the slow response, stuck rich or lean, insufficient switching etc etc codes because they are moved significantly further away from the exhaust valves of the engine causing a crummy slow exhaust pulse with crappy sampling.

 

unfortunately the GM stuff of this year doesnt have a simple heater control system like a newer Ford where you can command the duty cycle of the actual heater circuit

 

I am not sure if my tuner is going to know what to do. He does tune a ton of LS stuff though so I am hoping he can fix it. I am meeting up with him in a few hours. I'll show him this post and what you recommended. Do you recommend changing anything else? It ticks me off how sometimes it will run perfectly fine, and then other times it struggles to do 20mph. Once the revs come up though, it usually straightens out. It's like I have wayyyyy too much timing pulled and all of the sudden add it back with the flip of a switch, and I have found that it rarely does it once the car is completely warmed up. Not to say it hasn't acted up then, but it typically doesn't. I would say 80% of the time when it isn't reading, I am either idling or coming off idle. Low rpm's seem to make it flare up.

 

To be honest, itll probably need an o2 sensor. It sounds like its in the process of dying. This is how mine did it too, on and off etc until it finally pinned lean and that was the end of it. If the o2 signal looks good when he logs it and he has already made these changes than there isnt much else that can be done. Its a very common problem with these cars. If you decide to get new o2 sensors, give the NTK a try. I am currently running them, just swapped them out. If you run their version of the corvette rear sensors, the harnesses are a bit long but you will see the difference vs a typical front o2 sensor. The holes are smaller and the tip of the sensor has a little "pee" hole for sampling as well. My theory is that the sensor will retain heat a bit better. Watching it on my logs (as i am running a front o2 in my passanger and a rear o2 in my driver side, two different ntk designs) it does seem the driver responds marginally faster, but not much. Voltage get a tad higher...time will tell. Other than that, try to avoid o2 sensor extensions or you could try wrapping the collector to see if that helps as well.

Every car will be different but the o2 error on proportional idle will be increased. Start with doubling it. If it doesnt surge, watch the voltage and see how it responds. If its sticking a bit too long for your liking in either direction, try increasing proportional fuel. The integral delay will, from what I can understand, slow down the fuel trims from actually reporting (might just be the LT fuel trim, not sure). It will basically sample a bit longer before it changes. Being a cammed car, he will probably want to play with the proportional fuel and o2 error as well for driving (called the same name, one is just for idle, the other is from driving, he will see)

 

Thanks for the good info. I have already replaced these O2 sensors, and this will make the 2nd time I have had the driver side go out. This one lasted 2 weeks and the sensor that was in the car when I bought it lasted about a week. The passenger side went out shortly after. I bought Densos and they have a year warranty on them. Not the cheap ones, these were $100 a piece.

 

Yea than it sounds like they are being fouled out bad. Probably too much proportional fuel if i had to venture a guess. He can set up a wideband and watch the afr swing. You want just enough to trigger an o2 oscillation.

 

He changed the proportional fuel and made the O2's only affect fuel trims when it's over 1000 rpm so that they don't affect idle. I'm probably going to wrap my collectors to help keep some heat in there so they come all the way on more consistently. I haven't had a problem since I left.

 

use the o2 error for proportional idle to speed up the swing and switching. Thats how i got mine to be as nice as it is vs stock. But good im glad it helped!