ademid

Right. I'm having a bit of a traumatic time of late. After changing my heater matrix (pain in the bum but deffo not worth the £450 labour that Subaru wanted) Thought while the dash was out would fit HKS FCD and Dawes AFR meter. To cut a long story short had a massive pain getting the AFR meter to work because my lambda sensor is shot!!! (checked the voltage, ignition on engine off and got 15mV instead of the expected 0.6V)

I have read threads about people using universal Lambda sensors would I be correct in assuming that they all give the same voltage outputs?? If so would a lambda sensor from an MY02 fit my car (MY96)? I ask because a friend has one I can have if it fits.

cheers

Ade

RRH

I tried a couple of universal lambdas but couldn't get satisfactory results. I was told at the time that there are problems with the universals over time due to the heat where it has to live, ie. the exhaust manifold.

This is apparently why the genuine replacement is so dear; it resists the heat.

If i remember correctly the MY01 / 02 has a four wire sensor, the older cars are only three wires. don't know if you can adapt to fit though.

hope this helps,
simon

[Edited by RRH - 9/30/2002 10:52:54 AM]

ademid

Must admit I have'nt seen the one he has yet so don't know if it's a four or three wire guess I'll find out tonight! I believe you can order the exact one Subaru use direct form bosch saving a good few beer tokens

Will just have to wait and see!

Ade

ademid

Bugger!!

Just found out that my mates one is a four cable sensor! Doea anyone know if this can still be made to work??

If so please share the knowledge

Cheers

Ade

NutterKam

As far as I know in all the research I did when my lambda got knackered - the fourth wire is most likely a separate ground for the signal. I used a 4 wire universal zirconia made by ngk and ran teed signal wire straight to an afr. I can't speak for the longevity of the unit because the car hasn't been driven on the road for months. However, if you have a uk car then the downpipe mounted lambda wont be seeing as high temps as imports with manifold mounted units. Some people will tell you that universal jobs will conk out real quick - and, like I said, I can't comment on this. However, for 14 quid I'm not complaining too much. If it does conk out real quick then I'd consider the oem part - but would do dome more serious research before doing so.

ademid

Nutterkam

What did you do with the spare wire? Did you just leave it disconnected or connect to a common ground?

Cheers Mate

Ade

NutterKam

my afr meter only needs a single signal feed, + supply and gnd so left the spare one disconnected - still need to test whether car runs any different if I ground the extra wire but the afr defo works - will let you know but I only get to work on the car at weekends so might be a while!

I do have another car on which I suspect the lambda is bit knackered - just runs ******* rich all the time...

ademid

Cheers mate

going to fit it tonight so will have a bit of a play. If I find out anything exciting will let you know!!

Ade

NutterKam

if you do a search for universal lambda - it's the results of my findings when I first went about doing mine. Some interesting reads and I ended up doing some lengthy research on educating myself on the whole oxygen sensor thing...

ademid

Dagnammit!!! Still can't get this bloody thing to work! The sensor I've got has two black wires a blue and a white wire. Measured a samll resistance between the two blacks so assumed they are the heater. End result at ignition on eng off 5.1V at idle 4.9V held not pulsed tried a few different configurations but no difference!! I didn't think lambda sensor gave reading that high.. I think I going to have to bite the bullet and just buy one!!

Ade

NutterKam

this is what i did
http://www.scoobynet.co.uk/bbs/thread.asp?ThreadID=115113

ademid

NutterKam

I have already read that and many other threads on Lambda sensors and concluded that the one have is just giving me completely different readings to what I was expecting. I bitten the bullet now and ordered the proper Bosch one.!! Not too happy though 89 bloody quid!!! Still better than getting exactly the same item from subaru and paying 96 plus vat!!!!!

Cheers for trying anyway

Ade

NutterKam

96 quid from subaru - blimey that's cheap - i thought they were 300 quid!!

ademid

I think the newer models are quite a bit more expensive but for mine (my96) 112 pounds is quite expensive considering I get exactly the same item delivered for 89!!

Well that's mark up for you!

Ade

NutterKam

At least you got peace of mind now. Sorry the universal route didn't work out for you.

ademid

That's just the thing the one I have was a denso item from a later subaru but from what I can tell totally different voltages!!

Nevermind like you said peace of mind! (except the bloody lambda sensor cost me more than the heater matrix and anti freeze from the original job I was doing)!!

Bugger!

Ade

NutterKam

Know what you mean about collateral costs! This is why I went for the universal job and was so determined to get it to work - because I changed the downpipe and stripped the thread on the lambda getting it out!