Got a P2197 code, drivers side upstream O2. I bought a new one, jacked the car up, slid under and oh no, not a chance. No way am I getting my arm let alone a wrench up in there. Clearly this has to be done from the top. Drop the car down, try to wiggle my arm in there, no way I can bend my arm backwards to even disconnect the sensor wire, let alone get enough room in there for a wrench to loosen it for replacement.

I'm obviously going about this all wrong since the only thing I can find on all of the Internets by using the Googles states "yeah I just replaced them, pretty easy, just do it yourself..." etc. I'm not exactly a moron when it comes to wrenches, but this one has me stumped. What is the correct way to go about replacing this thing? If I can get a wrench on it, it's a 30 second job, but getting that wrench in there seems physically impossible.

 

Check autozone for a 02 sensor wrench. I forget how I got to the plug. Needle nose pliers and a long stick. It's been a long time since I messed with it.
All of the sensors are the same on our cars. So you might want to swap it out for the down stream sensor just to make sure its your sensor and not something else. How long have you been running your tune? Did it start shortly after the tune install?

 

I'll go get a socket for that, didn't even know they made those. Blew the O2 sensor at the last track day, they are the stock sensors, 125K miles. Been running the same tune for about 100K miles, so I'm pretty confident it's not a tune issue, haha. Wish me luck!

 

Let us know how long that 30 sec job took you.

 

Depends on how much help ya have and how much beer is in the fridge.

 

Finally got time to focus on it, and for you long distant people from the future, this is how I did it...

Had to go in from the top side of the car, there is just no way I could get to it from the bottom. Jammed my hand from the front of the block down the side down to the exhaust manifold, bent it backwards and wiggled the O2 connector harness free from the plastic "bolt" holding it in place in some unseen hole in the back of the engine. From there I was barely able to disconnect the sensor. Now that I had my hand in there, I passed down a small bottle of 3 in 1 oil to squirt onto the threads to hopefully let it break loose a bit easier. After soaking for 30 minutes or so and trying every ratchet extension, knuckle and the O2 sensor socket, I gave up and wiggled in the 7/8" wrench down the same path as my arm. I was able to get about 1/4" of room to break it free, and somehow that was enough. I then switched to a self sizing set of pliers I got from Sears and slowly but surely unscrewed the O2 sensor. I put it back in and tightened it up with that same wrench, then reconnected the sensor.

Now there was no way the plastic "bolt" was going back where I found it, because I can't see where I found it and my arm doesn't bend that way, so I tie wrapped the sensor wire harness to some of the plastic wire covering at the back of the engine bay to keep it away from the exhaust manifold and anything else that it might get caught up in.

Replacing the sensor, 30 seconds. Getting my arm in and out of there to get to it, 30 minutes. This may be the most difficult thing I've ever done on this car. Reset the codes, drove it about 50 miles so far, all is well.

If I was a mechanic, I would charge $10K for this work. Never again.

 

Now you made me curious. I checked on mine and i had the wrench on the drivers side O2 in like 10 seconds on my 4.6 3V with a hot engine... The connector sits on the stud of the back of the head. not too bad to access..

LEXiiON

 

Do you have arms like slender man?

 

Maybe ... I assume though, it is a design change between the 05-09 to 10's... I don't have those two big silver pipes going to the upper corner on the drivers side... That makes it probably a lot easier