There’s nothing more annoying than seeing that check engine light show up on your dash. You never know if it’s going to be something simple like a faulty fuel cap or something that’s going to put an enormous dent in your wallet. In Flugnugget’s case, it turned out to be a code 0141 – the oxygen sensor, sensor one in bank one. He wasn’t sure where the oxygen sensor was and how hard it would be to change. Let’s take a look at his problem and the possible solutions.

The Problem

The 1997 Mustang with a V6 engine is pretty easy to work on if you’ve got a manual handy. Without, it can be challenging to find all the different parts and sensors that are part of the engine. That’s the problem that Flugnugget is having – he isn’t sure where the oxygen sensor is. He was also wondering whether or not he could save money and put off replacing the sensor by running Seafoam engine cleaner through his engine.

The only problem with the latter plan is that he just changed his oil recently and would have to change it again after treating his engine with seafoam.

Bank One, Sensor One

What does bank one, sensor one even means when it comes to oxygen sensors?

To a mechanic, it tells you which of the two or four sensors needs replacing. An engine with a single exhaust, like a four-cylinder engine, will only have one set of oxygen sensors – one upstream before the catalytic converter, and one downstream after the converter. A larger engine, like a V6 or V8, will have two sets of oxygen sensors.

The Answers

Since he pulled the check engine code – 0141 – it’s easy to tell which oxygen sensor he needs to replace. Bank one sensor one is the upstream sensor on the passenger side of the car, which means that it will be on the exhaust headers. With an open-ended wrench or an oxygen sensor socket (which has a slit in the side to accommodate the wire harness on the sensor), oxygen sensors are relatively easy to replace.

His plan to use Seafoam to put off the replacement isn’t a good idea. While it can help reduce engine pinging and improve performance, there is no way to clean a bad O2 sensor. The only remedy there is to replace it. They can be expensive, usually costing between $50 and $150, depending on your car make and model and your engine size.

Oxygen sensors might seem like a pain, but once they go bad, the only thing you can do is replace them. Don’t try to cut corners on this. A faulty oxygen sensor can destroy your fuel economy by causing your engine to run too rich or too lean. Your car’s ECM relies on the information provided by those oxygen sensors to keep your ride running smoothly.

The post ForumFix: 1997 Mustang V6 oxygen sensor replacement appeared first on AllFordMustangs.