I got a new couple of CEL codes this morning, 1130 and 1139 which are front O2 sensor faults.

The car seems to drive OK still, but I'm way out here in the boonies, and tomorrow being labor day I'm not expecting to be able to get this fixed until Tuesday.

What is the worst thing that can happen driving another 500 miles with this fault?

What should I do (avoid high revs? avoid lugging? not drive at all?) to get this home safely?

And how much is an O2 sesor going to cost me?

Thanks

 

Well gee whiz, you guys weren't much help!

Turns out the root cause of the fault was SOMEBODY left the bracket that holds the O2 sensor harness away from the manifold loose, so eventually the wires touched the manifold and burned through the insulation.

When it was the signal wire it threw the fault codes, but when the power wire shorted it blew a fuse and killed the car- dead as a stone.

I was VERY lucky as it waited until I had driven through 50 miles of total wilderness on a single lane dirt road, if it had gone out there I'd probably still be hiking out of the Sinkyone Wilderness, but instead I got about 5 miles down highway 1, where a firendly tourist couple gave me a ride to Westport and I got a flatbed tow into Fort Bragg.

The next morning, a fuse got the car to start and drive, but only for 24 miles before the power lead welded itself to the manifold- 4 fuses later I walked 2 miles into Elk and called LIC on a pay phone, Adam was able to point me to the harness plug for the O2 sensor and I was able to limp it the remaining 130 miles to their shop.

Oh and in case anyone is still wondering about the cost- (that is if anyone reads this thread...) the new O2 sensor ran me abour $220, and since it was just harness damage, I can probably fix up the damaged one for a spare.

 

left that way after an up pipe swap, no doubt.

sorry to hear your misfortune, glad to hear it could have been worse.

ken

 

Actually that is the strange part as my car is pretty much all stock and apart from a brake job last week and spark plugs back in March, it's mostly seen only dealer service for most of it's 130,000 miles.

kinda wish I had up-pipes and stuff but I can get into plenty trouble with 227 hp, more hp would only cost more in the long run for a guy like me

 

i would have raised heck with the dealer in that case.

some knuclehead makes a mistake and you're out $250??

130k miles is no joke though...

it was def. the spark plug job. that bracket is held in place by one of the coil pack bolts (right rear).

 

Pete,
The O2 sensor bracket was probably overlooked when the plugs were changed.

I noticed the same thing when I had <vendor name omitted> change my plugs awhile back and I was taking out the airbox the day after to clean it & the filter and I saw the bracket was dangling on the sensor wire.

...probably just a small oversight on their behalf that I caught early, sorry to hear it cost you some headache.

 

Funny thing is, since <vendor name omitted> changed mine, its been at the dealer for AC and another shop did the front axles, so there's been enough other stuff that it really should have been caught a long time ago.

I'm still amazingly lucky though, had it gone out an hour earlier I'd probably still be hiking out...

 

over which cylinder's spark plug is this bracket? You guys make me wanna go check

jason

 

that's cylinder #3.

you will have to get at it either from underneath (only possible if you've taken off some heatshields), or by removing your airbox to get it from the topside.

ken