Starting to get fed up with the surging/hesitant light throttle performance on these cold and dark 3 mile journey's to work in the morning.

I read on here a while ago about disconnecting the Lambda to see if it smooths things out... and by jo it does

How long will it be before the CEL comes on.

Also does the surging mean the Lambda is dodgey, as I know they take time to warm through.

I have 2... one from an MY94 and one for the MY00 and to be honest the MY94 one has always seemed slightly smoother. You have to swap connectors to get it to fit tho'

Anyone else tried this....I think the thread I read was Toby Meech under guidance from Bob Rawl......

[Edited by Scott.T - 11/26/2003 9:25:37 AM]

 

Morning mate,

I have a UK MY00, and replaced the lambda a few weeks ago, after fitting an Autometer AFR gauge, and realising the lambda was knackered, as the voltage was a constant 0.3 ish. It was a universal one from a Motor Factor called MidWest, and it sorted the lights out on the AFR.

However, I get exactly what you're describing pretty much every cold start. I've just learnt to live with it though (rightly or wrongly). I'd be curious to know your findings on this though...

Regards,

Ade.

 

Both Lambda's are fine (although 1 now has a knackered thread), as my AFR reads OK.

They do have different tips tho' and as mentioned the early MY94 one seems slightly smoother in the MY00.

 

I drove around without a lambda sensor connected for a week before the car noticed It then decided that all was well and turned the CEL off the next time I got in the car! (MY96 though - so it'll be the older ECU)

I went for a universal 4 wire one so I could control where the sensor ground went. I found this a vast improvement over the old (dead) sensor when I silver soldered the wires properly.

I now only get a little clutch judder in the mornings now.

[Edited by dnb - 11/26/2003 10:08:23 AM]

 

David,

Do you think it normally grounds via the exhaust downpipe then ?
I was thinking of doing a grounding mod, but a seperate ground may work if it does use the donwpipe as it's path to ground.

What sensor did you use ?

 

The problem is that the ECU switches to closed-loop lambda control before the lambda probe is warm, so it's readings are wrong whatever the state of the lambda.
So disconnecting it makes the ECU go elsewhere for the AFR.
The only way I think it could be permanently 'fixed' is to use a lambda with a heating control system in it that works (such as a wideband jobbie) & use the narrow-band output from that to feed to the ECU. Possibly a little expensive for just sorting this out, though

 

Gonna give a 4-wire one a go so I can give it a nice chunky earth.
Getting it from http://www.buypartsby.co.uk/lambda_sensors.php £40 inc delivery.

Lucas want £47+VAT for their universal.

The Bosch part number on the sensor is un-recognised, so it probably Subaru/Bosch secret code.

 

I think the original sensor is grounded through the exhaust - therefore through the turbo housing etc...

I got mine from the same place you are looking at. BTW if nothing's changed, then orders over £30 are delivered free to UK mainland - so find something else cheap to buy if it's £29.99!!

I have to pay postage, as I live "overseas"

I'm sure I'm preaching now, but make sure you solder the wires together - don't use the silly joiners for at least the signal and ground. "Normal" solder won't work - I used the tin/silver stuff and just soldered a new gold plated spade connector thing on the signal wire. Unfortunately, it wouldn't all fit back in the platsic connector, so it looks a little untidy being wrapped in insulation tape.

I used the ground point on the block inder the intercooler - it's where all my engine earths come from, as it's fairly central to everywhere.

 

You got any Tin/Silver solder going spare... I've only got a real of Tin/Copper stuff

Ordered the sensor already...bugger could of saved on the postage.

I was going to take the earth to the earth point on the bulhead under the interccoler, then run another earth from there to the battery.

Also thinking of doing new earths for both injector banks and strut tops.

Any recomendations on wire ? I think I have some 30A black stuff kicking about.

 

Shame about the postage. I got some cheap OFC thick wire from somewhere a while ago... I don't remember where now, just that it was a baragin. I expect the 30A wire you've got will work just fine.

I'll have a look what solder I've got - I may have some left (it was kindly donated by work ) Tin-lead just doesn't wet the wires - maybe tin/copper would?

 

Scott,

If you haven't already added extra earthing then this might be half the problem.

Mine was a lot smoother are a few additional earths.

Simon

 

The 4 wire ones incorporate a heater. Anyone planning on using the heater? If so, is it going to be heated permanently or switched on time or temperature?

Vindaloo.

 

The 3-wire ones (standard fit) also contain a heater. The 3rd wire being the signal wire for the ECU.

4-wire one have the above but with seperate ground wire, rather then using the downpipe as the path to ground (as per 3-wire).

 

P.S If the heater fails this can lead to an MOT failure, as the Lambda may not get hot enough during the MOT time slot.

This happened on my first Scoob a few years back. On the retest it took almost the whole 40min slot to get the right CO results.

Power Engineering found a few weeks later that the heater element in the Lambda was O/C.

For Info the 2 I have hear both measure 4.5 ohms across the 2 white wires (heater connections)