Prodago

I am under the gun to get my front sensors mounted. Long story. Extensions came in but they were for the back. My question is this:
will splicing/soldering the wiring disrupt the signal or create resistance at the joint? or will it be ok to splice. I am running headers and no cats.
thanks
John

stocksuspension

you will gain added resistance, therefore your 02 readings will be off

GMautotech

If done properly there will be no more resistance than if there was a connector.

'VETTE PHASE

Not sure how you would get added resistance enough to skew readings. The one thing you would have to be wary of is that the internal part of the sensor has to vent to air to operate properly. It does this through the sheath of the wire. That is why the sheath is relatively stiff. If you were to close off this vent, then they would not read accurately.

I told you I used the ones off of my '00 in my '05 flood car. Well, I spliced them into the '05 connector by soldering and shrink wrap, but before I shrink wrapped them, I cut a piece of plastic (I used part of a drinking straw) cut down to go around the splice area and then shrink wrapped over it. It may not have been necessary, but I didn't want to chance it.

danl72

HANNY

need to solder and you will be fine

SoldSyclone

My friend spliced them on his 05 and they did not work at all then I felt bad because I told him it would work???

stocksuspension

all im saying is that 02s read mili volts/ mili amps. thats pretty precise.
but then again it is your car. good luck

chucky7

Hey John,
When I put on my headers, the front sensors were short by about 12".
My tuner slit the tape that wraps around the harness where the sensor wires come out and got an extra 14" of sensor wire. Then they fit. The front sensor wires feed back towards the windshield. If you do it correctly, it works out perfect. Simply use black tape like the original to re-wrap the harness. Looks just like factory.
Just a thought for you.
Charlie

Prodago

Thanks for all the advice guys. I hate to splice but will do so if I have to, but Charlie has given me an idea. I will try this first. I have extensions, but they are for the rear ones and I was planning on splicing them into my front. However, now I'm excited about what Charlie said.

AintQik

I built (soldered) extensions in 2005 and have had no adverse issues.

PowerLabs

11 posts an no one has pointed out that OXYGEN SENSOR WIRES ARE NOT MADE OF COPPER; THEY ARE MADE OF STEEL AND AS SUCH CAN NOT BE SOLDERED.

I tried; it looked like it would hold then broke off. So I did some research and found out why. You will never be able to get a good solder joint out of that, don't even try.

The proper way to extend the wire is with a wire extension that has a plug in each end. Lacking that, you can cut the wires and use butt connectors crimped at each end. The sensor outputs a very small voltage, so provided that the connections are solid and the wires are not too long you should be OK. I would make sure the connections were airtight so that the wire doesn't rust inside the crimped connection and skew the readings...

patton

Prodago

Hmmmm....you raise a good point.

Prodago

Did some research and it turns out that from what I can gather you CAN solder using a different solder. It's Silver-brite and it claims to be able to solder steel, stainless steel, nickel, brass and copper
http://www.hobbylinc.com/htm/sta/sta2000sbkit.htm

PowerLabs

That's just ordinary silver solder; it is terrible for electronics, I can't imagine it works much better on steel. You can BRAZE steel but that's a different process alltogether.

Use one of these:

It is a crimp style butt connector wrapped in heatshrink tubing with hot melt glue inside it; you crimp the wires together, then heat it up and the glue will fill the joint protecting it from air and moisture, then the heatshrink tubing will wrap around everything else providing some additional protection. You can pick them up at any hardware store.

Prodago

excellent! Cause I couldn't the other solder anyway. You guys just don't give up. YOur like pitt bulls when your given a problem (of course to most of you it's not even a problem)
thanks
John

'VETTE PHASE

This is exactly the type of connector that you DO NOT want to use. You don't want to fill the joint and protect it from air. An O2 sensor must vent to outside air to use for sampling. If not, it will not work. This is probably what happened to SoldSyclone's buddy.


HOW AN OXYGEN SENSOR WORKS

The O2 sensor works like a miniature generator and produces its own voltage when it gets hot. Inside the vented cover on the end of the sensor that screws into the exhaust manifold is a zirconium ceramic bulb. The bulb is coated on the outside with a porous layer of platinum. Inside the bulb are two strips of platinum that serve as electrodes or contacts.

The outside of the bulb is exposed to the hot gases in the exhaust while the inside of the bulb is vented internally through the sensor body to the outside atmosphere. Older style oxygen sensors actually have a small hole in the body shell so air can enter the sensor, but newer style O2 sensors "breathe" through their wire connectors and have no vent hole. It is hard to believe, but the tiny amount of space between the insulation and wire provides enough room for air to seep into the sensor (for this reason, grease should never be used on O2 sensor connectors because it can block the flow of air). Venting the sensor through the wires rather than with a hole in the body reduces the risk of dirt or water contamination that could foul the sensor from the inside and cause it to fail.

The difference in oxygen levels between the exhaust and outside air within the sensor causes voltage to flow through the ceramic bulb. The greater the difference, the higher the voltage reading.

An oxygen sensor will typically generate up to about 0.9 volts when the fuel mixture is rich and there is little unburned oxygen in the exhaust. When the mixture is lean, the sensor output voltage will drop down to about 0.2 volts or less. When the air/fuel mixture is balanced or at the equilibrium point of about 14.7 to 1, the sensor will read around .45 volts.

low c1500

Extending the wires shouldn't cause any issues. The added resistance of a butt connector won't effect the millivolt reading. You need to have about 1000 omh's of resistance to have any real votage drop.

low c1500

2000C-5

I think your confusing the actual O2 sensor with the sensor wiring.