JetMechZ16

I was wondering if I could splice new 02 sensors into my existing wiring?

This weekend i was going to change 02 sensors, when I got under the car I noticed the 02 sensor connectors had gotten too close to the headers at some point in time and are somewhat melted. This must have happened during thge previous owners time. The sensors wiring is zip tied up out of the way now, but the damage is still there. I'm afraid if Try to seperate the connectors they'll just break. I've had the car for about a year and recently started getting a PO135 code. So I was wanting to clip the wires at the 02 sensor and then splice those wires into the new 02 sensors. Is there any reason this wouldn't work?

It's an 04 Z06, headers, cat delete, only two 02 sensors on the car. I would like to repair the wiring correctly at some later time, maybe when I have the headers off. But there isn't any room with the headers installed.

So will this work?

_zebra

it's doable. you just gotta be thorough, accurately label each wire/pin, and do good solders.
when i put catless LTs on my truck, i swapped the front truck O2s to corvette rears (which have different connectors & different pins). once you figure out which wires go to which spots, just pull back the heat jacket, make staggered cuts (to keep the spliced area from getting too thick for the jacket to slide back over), and do your reconnecting.

Bill Curlee

Well,,, If it were me,,, I would contact www.gmpartshouse.com and ask Gene or Patrick for a new harness pigtail connector and splice that on the the harness.

That way, you can plug the sensors back in like they were designed
The service manual says NOT to splice the sensors as the wires act as a path for fresh air.

My 2 cents..

BC

_zebra

so OP, are you saying that if you follow the wiring from the sensor, there's: the O2 itself, then the wires coming off of it, then the sensor connector, then the chassis harness connector, and then the melted part?

onspeed

I believe it's not to solder the wires, since the wires act as a path for air.

FWIW, I've had other cars where the "generic" O2 sensors are significantly cheaper than the OEM specific, due to uncommon connectors, and the install for those are to splice the wires. All equip comes included.

JetMechZ16

No, it goes, O2 sensors, wiring that is directly conected to O2 sensors to the plug. It's the 1st plug that the O2 sensors connect to. They are both partially melted, mostly on the plastic portion connected to the O2sensors side of the plug. I might be able to disconnect them but the harness side is also slightly deformed. Which leads me to believe that they would not disconnect correctly and that even if I could get them apart the new connectors from the O2 sensors would not fit.

Your post leads me to believe that the O2 harness has another connector further up? If that's true then if I can gain access to that I can just change that portion of the harness and then connect the new O2 sensors correctly.

_zebra

no, i was just referring to which side of the plug you were talking about - the sensor side or the engine harness side. i see now that it's both.
so are you trying to reuse your old sensor connector with a new O2 sensor in hopes that the deformed-to-each-other plugs will match up? that would be possible by simply depinning the connectors & swapping them (assuming the wiring itself is still good)... but to do that, you have to separate the connectors from each other & work from the mating faces. your best bet in that scenario would be to just use the complete new O2 & buy a new plug for the other side. swap the engine harness plug using the depinning method & now you have a factory fit all around

JetMechZ16

I would take the route you suggest but acces to the harness is very limited with the headers installed, I can barely get my fingers to touch them and they don't come down any further. I think I'd need the headers removed to do it right. I will probably replace the connectors completely when I have the headers out for some other reason.

dart.deanda

Thread hijack -- anyone have a hard time soldering to the stock wires? I was tinning leads yesterday to replace Oil level sensor wires, and crank position sensor wires that were fried by exhaust, and no prob getting solder in the new wires, and the old wires, it just ran off. I'm a former avionics component repair tech, and know how to solder, and it just was NOT happening. Solderless wire connector time? I was thinking maybe pull the plastic off those, crimp, and solder over the crimp and wire...