Universal O2 sensors - Anyone tried one?

[Kieran]

Seeing as they're only about £40 a pop, I'm thinking of getting one of these 'universal' Zirconia Oxygen sensors. Has anyone tried them before?:inquisiti

[peter thomson]

I've used them in my old landrover when i converted it to LPG without any problems. I used a 3 wire one but I would think the 4 wire are just as good

[Gly]

i cant comment on that particular brand,
but i have been told that the aftermarket ones are slow?
and do no react or read the EGO levels aswell as the mitsi item.

[Paul Beazer]

Like you'll find any for a while after the Tesco silicon additive petrol farce!

[Eurospec]

Generic O2 sensors will do the job but their response at the limits is never as good in my experiance. You will find many run from 0.1 to 0.9 volts, unlike the mitsu one which runs 0 to 1 volt.

Plonk it on a logger and you see the difference straight away.

There is a slight variation caused by this divergence in the ends of the characteristic curve, but it seems to make very little difference. As long as stoich is set at 0.5 volts it should be fine, other than slightly lower response rate.

You will also find a generic one will last about a year or two at max, whereas the genuine ones seem to go on for ever and ever (eg you can find a 94 car with a fully functional O2 sensor!)

If you are going to try any kind of afr tuning on narrowband (not the best idea but still) then get an OEM one.

Cheers,

Ben.

[Kieran]

Thanks Ben, seeing as I plan to get a wideband anyway, I'll get one with a 'narrow' output too and go that way.