Lamba Sensors...

[Phil W]

Hi all.

Heard a rattling on my car the other day, so had a look under the car and saw the Lamba sensor was hanging off, the wires had corroded off the sensor itself.

Anyway i have been to have a new one fitted today (£48+vat) which i though was reasonable considering some stories you hear about prices of these things.

What difference would a busted on actually make to the running of the car?

I'm expecting ecomony to rise a bit, and the car has also stopped "jerking" when i'm not touching the accelerator, i'm guessing this was probably because of the broken sensor too??

Phil

 

[[huzeeee]]

Yeah, if the sensor isnt connected the ECU isnt getting feedback on the fuel/air mixture. This means it wont adjust itself to correct the mixture meaning it can not run as good as it should. When it shunts (judders when you come off the gas) its something to do ignition although im not sure quite what.

 

[Phil W]

Ah, so it could still be that the timing is too far advanced?

Although since the sensor has been replaced, the car is no longer shuddering/jumping....

 

[dalin80]

the ecu will guess what the sensor would be picking up under equal conditions and normally its quite close. in modern cars you can struggle to tell the difference between run home mode or normal.

if its been off for a while the cat may be damaged but only a emissions test will tell you.

 

[Nathan]

You will now get better economy

 

[Simon]

Ah, so it could still be that the timing is too far advanced?

Although since the sensor has been replaced, the car is no longer shuddering/jumping....

Fuelling will have been poor without the lambda sensor, probably a lean misfire.