Topic: Wideband O2 sensor

[Helios]

Everyone knows that our cars put out a bunch of soot. I know my SC setup does. I've seen others on the forum say they've installed a wideband O2 sensor. I'm not really sure I understand their reasoning. My question is: Will using a wideband O2 sensor help adjust the air/fuel ratio to significantly decrease the soot we put out?

[Kelu]

Short answer: No

A wide band sensor will allow a more refined tune of the A/F but this doesn't mean you can run leaner to avoid soot. You still need to run rich at WOT to protect that engine.

LNF runs lean and still soots, so better buy some towels to clean those pipes instead of messing with A/F to avoid soot.

[Helios]

Short answer: No

A wide band sensor will allow a more refined tune of the A/F but this doesn't mean you can run leaner to avoid soot. You still need to run rich at WOT to protect that engine.

So, changing to a wideband O2 sensor could potentially help with soot; at least a little? I understand we don't want to run lean, but the tune can be more finely tweaked if a wideband is installed. Correct? Not sure if it's worth the expense though. How much is a wideband sensor for our cars? The 2.4L kappas don't have one stock, but the 2.0s do?

[Kelu]

LNF has wideband from factory. Don't know for sure about LE5 but I don't think it has.
A wideband sensor costs around 100-200$.

If you want no soot in your case go with high octane gas 

[Helios]

If you want no soot in your case go with high octane gas 

That's all I ever fill up with anymore.

[Critterman]

Okay, you add a third sensor the wide band to the exhaust pipe, plus a gauge to read it, on you will have to have a pod to put it in.  So 600 dollars later you are able to monitor your AF.  It does nothing for the soot.  Just lets you know how you are running.

[Helios]

Okay, you add a third sensor the wide band to the exhaust pipe, plus a gauge to read it, on you will have to have a pod to put it in.  So 600 dollars later you are able to monitor your AF.  It does nothing for the soot.  Just lets you know how you are running.

Okay, so my money is best spent elsewhere. 10-4. Thanks, all.

[Dave@DDMworks]

A wideband O2 sensor reads between 0-5Volts and the narrow band reads between 0-1 volts. Also the wideband has a linear response to changes in air/fuel ratio, in contrast to the narrow band gauge that has non-linear response to air/fuel ratios. If you removed the stock narrow band and installed a wideband in place the car would not run correctly because the ECM would not know how to interpret the data being given to it.

Also when you go full throttle on the LE5 motors, you go into open loop mode, which means that the ECM does not look at what the O2 sensor is reporting and is fueling based off of the tables in the computer. The only time that the O2 sensor is used is during cruise and idle where the ECM is trying to maintain a Stoichiometric (14.7:1) Air/Fuel ratio.

[Helios]

A wideband O2 sensor reads between 0-5Volts and the narrow band reads between 0-1 volts. Also the wideband has a linear response to changes in air/fuel ratio, in contrast to the narrow band gauge that has non-linear response to air/fuel ratios. If you removed the stock narrow band and installed a wideband in place the car would not run correctly because the ECM would not know how to interpret the data being given to it.

Also when you go full throttle on the LE5 motors, you go into open loop mode, which means that the ECM does not look at what the O2 sensor is reporting and is fueling based off of the tables in the computer. The only time that the O2 sensor is used is during cruise and idle where the ECM is trying to maintain a Stoichiometric (14.7:1) Air/Fuel ratio.

Ah ha. Thanks Mr. Wizard...errr I mean Dave. Very useful info yet again.