Lambda Link not moving?
 

hey all

just had a knocklink and lambda link fitted to the car for safety.

the knocklink works a treat, and glad to report theres no bad knock, normal light occasionally flashes, but nothing more! and the sensitivity is quiet high up :D


but the lambda wont move? it sits on the far right LED saying high boost, which points to running rich, but when u drive, the led dont change?

ive asked a few mechanics and they think the lambda oxygen sensor on the downpipe might be dead.... could anyone shed any light?

Regards
James

When you start the car from cold and let it warm up what is the light doing?

If the LambdaLink is wired in properly, you'll see nothing for the first few minutes (whilst the Lambda sensor heats up to the 300 degrees the ECU is in (closed?) loop untul it is in operating range) then you should see the first red light up then the second, and so on until the middle or end yellow is lit. blip the throttle and the red will light up and then travel up to the full green.

If this does not happen then:
LambdaLink is wired in wrong (+12v wired into signal wire?)
Lambda sensor might be on its way out (if it was knackered, it would read 0 volts, so you'll get no reading on the LambdaLink!)

Russell

My money's on the wrong wire being used as the signal wire.

If the lambda sensor was knackered, or on its way to being knackered, you'd get low voltage readings that would be quite static. They definitely wouldn't be high.

Are you certain you have the correct wire...?

i have the same problem. i have three wires from the o2 sensor, red, black and white. i have taken the signal from the white wire. is this right? i have a 94 wrx running GEMS.

nathan

any ideas coz its startng to worry me!

nathan

White wire is right... Do you have the right o2 sensor? I heard of one a while back that was wrong and therefore so were the connections.

If you have a multimeter, set it to either V or mV and check the signal into the Lambda Link. Sounds like it might be faulty or the sensor is incorrect.

MB

i have a my97 and is a three wire one with one black and two white wires. the white wires are the heater circuit and the black wire is the signal and is earthed through the body.
with a volt meter one wire will have battery volts(12-14.2) this is the feed to the heater, one will have a constant 130-200mv this is the retern or negative from the heater and one will be changing about every 1-2 seconds between 200mv-800mv or anware in between so this one is the signal.
with a voltmeter always go between the body or engine and the wire your testing.

will get a volt meter and try the wires.

nathan

had a look at the wires coming from my lambda sensor and noticed that i have 2 white and 1 black! i now wonder if the garage that fitted the new sensor have wired it up wrong. time to get the volt meter and investigate!!

nathan

Sounds like they've fitted a Zirconia instead of a Titania...

More info here...

Thought Zirconia was the right one for a Subaru? Sounds more like a wiring problem?

MB

I always thought the Titania was for the older Scoobs, and the Zirconia for the newer MYs...?

Im sure I had Zirconia on my old 95WRX?

Stop confusing me :D

Got it from Cats Direct.

MB

cant seem to get any reading from the sensor no matter how i wire it. should i get a new sensor? can i check if its knackered? where do i get a new one? which is best?

nathan

Have you let it warm up? Can take several minutes before the heater kicks it into life. If its not that then you may well have the wrong sensor...

MB

Are you saying the old sensor had red black and white wires, and the new sensor has 2 white and 1 black...? If so, I'd say the old sensor was a Titania, and the new sensor is Zirconia - in which case, the wrong one...!

the loom from the car has a red, a black and a white, the sensor has 2 black and a white. phoned rcm today, £235 for a titania!!! can i get one cheaper? will the one i have fitted work or not?

nathan

Blimey, not good. Try here, or here...

fitted white wire on loom to black on sensor, then connected red and black on loom to each of the white wires on sensor. drove for 45mins but had no signal on lambda link. changed red and black over, drove 45mins home and still nothing. this must prove it is the sensor! can i use either sensor and what thread size is it, 12mm or 18mm?

nathan

When you were checking with a volt meter, you did have the engine running didn't you...?! ;) And did you check each wire when it was connected to the loom? Cos you wouldn't get the higher voltages for the heater wires otherwise.

If you had the old sensor, you'd be able to tell quite easily which type it is, but I'm guesing the garage that fitted the new sensor has got the one they took off...?

I thought the GEMS didn't need the lambda sensor...?

http://bbs.scoobynet.co.uk/showthrea...ghlight=lambda

i bought a lambda link before i had the GEMS fitted but only just fitted the lambda link. this is why i want ny o2 sensor to work. the engine was running when voltage was checked. the garage did keep the old sensor so i dont know what i originally had fitted.

nathan

I guess the 12v heater supply is routed from the ECU, so with a gems there will be no power to the lambda, hence you are getting no signal on the multimeter.

If you work out what supply you need to the lambda (think its 12v?) You could route a switched live from the fuse box.

That's if you really want mixture indication...

MB

i checked the loom for power and got a reading from both + and -.

nathan