O2 sensor wires, help please

[woodsy]

Hi there my helpful friends, bouhgt a new oxygen (lamba?) sensor, the one that goes in the exhaust. All was fine untill the new one turned up and we found out some bodger had cut the plug off the car and fitted a different sensor. Can anybody tell me what colour wire goes to which,

Cheers john.

[hilly]

If it is a 4 wire sensor (most are these days) then it is ....

Black - Signal

Grey - Earth

White - Heater

White - Heater

If it is a 3 wire then the grey will be missing.

You should be able to tell from the old one which wire goes where on the Lotus loom

Hilly

[woodsy]

Cheers Hilly but...

the car has black X2

green

blue which has a black shield wire covering it

now the new sensor has dark brown X 2

light brown

purple

the sensor that was on had white's, grey and a black but these were bullet connectors not the proper conector,

[chandrab]

What sort of Bosch Oxygen sensor does an SE use? A Part Number would be awesome.

Thanks,

Chandra

[Bibs]

It's a Delco unit, I'll check the part number in the morning

[Advantage]

Lambda wiring clicky.

Keep it in your favourites!

[Paula&Marcus]

Hi All,

JFY, never use Bosch sensors with an Esprit ... they simply donot like each other

Cheers

Marcus

[superdavelotus]

John,

I reckon this is why your car failed it's MOT. Silly point I know but it's the use of aftermarket O2 sensors and DIY joining wires. It's false economy if you ask me. Joining the wires etc and the heat that comes from these units, you'd be lucky if it last you a year.

You need to buy the Lotus one.

Yes, some people will tell you that they have an aftermarket one in theirs and it's last for a number of years but the majority who have gone down this route will also confirm what I have just told you.

Regards,

Dave Walters

[Winter]

John,

I reckon this is why your car failed it's MOT. Silly point I know but it's the use of aftermarket O2 sensors and DIY joining wires. It's false economy if you ask me. Joining the wires etc and the heat that comes from these units, you'd be lucky if it last you a year.

You need to buy the Lotus one.

Yes, some people will tell you that they have an aftermarket one in theirs and it's last for a number of years but the majority who have gone down this route will also confirm what I have just told you.

Regards,

Dave Walters

I echo Dave's comments.

I tried the non-Lotus after-market route and on each of the three occasions, the sensors lasted for only six months or so. The correct Lotus-supplied Delphi sensors are the ones to go for. Although they are seemingy expensive, anything else is as Dave writes, a false economy.

[neal]

I have an aftermarket one in mine and it's lasted for a number of years

Seriously though, splicing the wires is not necessarily a problem. You just have to be careful about securing the wire safely away so that it can't flap (particularly the splice) against anything hot. Also the splice needs to be perfect - make sure you don't have any strands of wire sticking out which could short against the chassis. Oh and needless to say keep the heat shield either side of the splice. You could even wrap heat resistant tape (e.g. the stuff you use for lagging turbos) around the splice, though I never went that far.

In fact my other sensor (I no longer have the post-cat sensors), which is the genuine Lotus item, has also been spliced. This was because it was seized solid into my old cat and a C-spanner was just turning on the threads. The O2 sensor removal sockets you buy were equally useless since they were just flexing and doing the same. So the only way to get it out was to cut the wire so I could get a circle spanner onto the threads (a circle spanner won't fit over the connector)...

Edited November 27, 2007 by neal

[woodsy]

Bought a sensor from SJ's, wanted a correct one, my problem was all the different wire colours, an earlier post from GKP has hopefully sorted that. Going to plug in tommorow and try and get a MOT, might have to wait for that but I will let you know how I progress.

[woodsy]

She's passed, long story but the car is my mates and it hadn't run for 4 years, now he's gone on holiday for 2 weeks so I can't get a tax disc, aarrhh, I want to drive it.

Thanks to everybody who replied and cheers Dodgey for pointing me in the right directions.