Thread: pulling front o2 sensor

Ok well I have had a few problems with my car and I'm thinking that they have to do with a clogged cat. I want to test this theory by pulling the front o2 and letting some exhaust out b4 the cat. What is the easy way to do this. I can get a open end wrench on it but I have about a mm of room to move it. So I cannot get it loose without more room. I have heard that you could use a ratchet strap and pull the motor forward and get more room. But I don't know if that would give me enough room to do it. Just wondering if anyone knew of a easy way. If not ill just take a hacksaw to the dam pipe and say good bye to the cat and my ear drums.

Move the engine forward w/ ratchet straps or put the car in neutral rock the car forward and have someone hit the E brake as the engine is forward. Rent a O2 socket from autozone and use that to take it off.

you need to unbolt the dog bones first, then pull the engine forward. there will be lots of room when the engine is moved some.

chances are the open end wrench will get the job done for ya.

When I had the motor yanked forward, I was able to get the o2 socket on there with tons of extensions...gave me that extra room to move and not bust my hands.

Hopefully, you are going to run open loop while doing this. Otherwise your car will run like complete ass since it will be looking for an O2 signal.

Maybe if you disconnect the electrical before you start it up it will force open loop and run OK. I run open loop all the time so I can't exactly test this theory. Just a heads up.

Also, what issues are you having? Maybe we can help.

Well #1 I have a boost problem when the car is cold I get full psi boost. (not sure what full psi boost is because I don't hammer on it when it is cold) When the car warms up say past 100 degrees coolant temp my boost is limited to about 2 pounds and it feels like the car has lost all power. If I go WOT after the is car warmed up to temp it is sluggish, feels like it has less power then my n/a 06 that has a bad #3 cylinder. There are a few more issues but I'm almost positive that's more of a pcm issue then anything else. Whoever had the car before I did had to of messed with the pcm and they obviously didn't know what they where doing. I know this because the car shifts at about 5k rpm at WOT. Has horrible kr at WOT too. Hopefully when I get some money back from taxes I can buy HPtuners and see if I cant remedy those issues. I got a used pcm to see if maybe that would help with the few pcm issues but when I installed it the car would not start so I think that pcm is bad. It has had the u-bend delete and I'm pretty sure they used the factory cat when they put it back together. It has 144k on it now so I'm guessing its clogged. I wanted to pull the front 02 That way I don't have to hack at the exhaust just to find out. Since I will soon be using this car as my DD again. It runs fine as long as I'm not trying to race someone.

hmmm, well first off that other pcm wasn't working because it needs to be setup to your vin. Has the car always shifted at 5K since you've owned it?

Your symptoms do make for an interesting case against the cat however there are other tests I would perform as well to see what all is going on with your car if it were me. With that said, there is a cat tester you can buy for like 45 bucks you could use. OR you can just unbolt your downpipe from your rear manifold (just make sure you use PB blaster).

Yeh I think ill need more then PB to break it loose its stupid rusted down there and they did a ****ty job on the u-bend del. They used smaller diam. pipe to join the flange and dp together Was going to cut it out and use larger diam. pipe to put it back together that way it don't have a restriction in the pipe right there. and ATM my garage is full of junk everywhere can barely stand in front of the car. I got his house right before winter so everything extra kinda got shoved in there. I don't have any plywood on-top the beams so i cant store stuff up there.

But anyway. Yeh the car has always had the shift issue since I owned it nothing new. I didn't know if it had to be set up to vin. But I didn't have the extra cash to get it mapped to my vin. I also have to fix the oil pan which leaks like *****. I think I just need a new one its prolly rusted out. Too dam cold around here at the moment to go tearing stuff apart. Plus it also needs a new MAF........ Lots of little jobs that require time/money. I need to hit up the junkyard lol.

I did just try to pull the front 02 but even with it being pulled forward (as much as my POS ratchet strap could handle) I couldn't break it loose. (although I didn't try for very long)
When I get my air-compressor here I'm going to try to unbolt the DP That way I have my impact to use. Soon I will have everything fixed on it so it can go to another good home. I need a truck bad and that car is the weak link. As soon as I get the extra cash the 06 is going to undergo the new motor/trans mod. Since both are starting to go down hill. The Trans is just about shot for the 5th time. This time Its the clutches going bad. Slips from 3rd to drive. And I even tryed taking it easy on this one. Oh well. Its just tooo hard to give up the prixs even though they have cost me a tonnn of money and work. I do love them dearly.

To loosen the O2 I just use an O2 socket and a ratchet and maybe a little pb if it needs it. As far as the PCM goes, most places will flash your VIN into it before they ship it out, I see them go for 30-50 bucks all the time. Since the dumbass who fiddled with the tune set the shift points at 5K, who knows what else the messed with.....could even be why you keep trashing transmissions and at this point you might as well get a whole new trans since the one you have seems plagued.

Yeh the trashing of trans is for the 06 all of em where factory re-builds from gm. (everyone knows they are **** anyway) Had a exteded Warrantee so it was free to me. This one wont though. With the pcm and stuff its on the 97. I never really pushed that car hard b/c of the pcm issue. Didnt want to really hurt something. Soon enuf it will be fix and I may even just keep it. But we will see what time will tell. I may even try to pull the pipe tomarrow since I'm working the graveyard shift tonight and dont have to be in till wednesday. I got the pcm off a guy on here Its completly stock pcm. It didnt cost me a ton so I didnt care if it was broke or not.