New lambda sensors

2006-06-03 00:00:00

For some time now i've been experiencing a number of minor problems and up until recently i hadn't realised they were connected. Fuel consumption has never been great but it has deteriorated from about 18mpg to about 13mpg, yet my driving style has not changed. In fact, my last tank of fuel only made 8mpg.

It has also been suffering an intermittent, but annoying, and sometimes embarrassing, engine anomaly. When slowing down to a stop, the engine sometimes wants to die. Most times, it keeps firing, but a quick blip of the throttle is sometimes needed to keep it running. If i'm not quick enough to catch it, the engine will stall. And at its' MoT in March, it narrowly avoided failing due to emissions that were nowhere near correct.

Following some research of the forums on PistonHeads.com, i realised all these symptons could all be explained by faulty lambda sensors. Although not cheap, i was confident enough that these were the cause of my problems and so i ordered a pair of replacement sensors from Gendan.co.uk

Fitting didn't take long, though it would have been much quicker had i been able to find a 17mm lambda sensor removal tool. Instead, i had to remove the plug shroud from the sensor, by withdrawing the pins, and then feed the wires through a 17mm box spanner. It is then a simple matter of unscrewing the old sensor from the top of the manifold, fitting the new sensor and then refiting the plug shroud.

It's too early to tell if fuel efficiency has increased - should be about two weeks before i find out - and i'll need to have the car tested to check the emissions, but it is clear that the intermittent stalling when coming to a stop has been cured. In fact, all gear down changes appear much smoother and it just feels right. I am confident however that emissions will be fine and fuel efficiency should be much much improved.