Oxygen Sensor

[jbw535i]

I seem to remember reading on one of the bmw forums that you could use a certain model Ford oxygen sensor in place of the $100 BMW oxygen sensor. I know this was possible with the E28s.

Has anyone done this with an E34? And if so what is the part #?

thanks,

jbw535

[Bruno]

I received a great tip from a digester a few months ago. Allen from Simpsonville, SC, THANK YOU! Your suggestion for using the Bosch part that goes in a 5.0 liter 1990 Mustang works great on my big six. And wow what a difference in price. The local parts store wants only $39 for the Bosch part no. 13942 and then asked $132 for the part as it crossed to my BMW 535i. The sensor numbers were almost identical (off by the last digit of 1..ex..0258003008 vice 0258003009 for the new one). Better yet the sensors were identical except for the different wiring plug. Expensive plug folks!!! I just soldered the old plug onto the new sensor and everything worked great. My big six idles a little better too (it was running rich according to the black tail pipes). Response picked up and I'm hoping for better gas mileage. Once again I receive great tips from this digest...keep it up folks.

This is from another forum... I did it on my E28 and will not do it again, the old wires were old and very hard to solder...

[Bruno]

4. Regarding substitution, Bosch lists #13942 as its interchange for the Ford DY606 that others have recommended, and is cheaper. Cheaper still, and apparently identical to the 942 except for the connector which will be cut off anyway is 13913, whose original application was an 86 Taurus V-6, (I paid about $44 for it). This is even less than some of the kits available by mail order and given that the original application is as common as dirt, it should be in stock at any auto parts store in North America that sells Bosch. (BTW, both of these sensors appeared the same as my (literally) factory original at the tip, but the barrel was somewhat shorter) At this price, there is no reason not to change your sensor every 60,000 miles, which is Bosch's current recommendation, especially since you will get your money back in increased mileage fairly quickly- see below.


More of it...

[John 535is (Sydney)]

You might want to try to find the NTK equivalent which was half the price of the Bosch. The part number for an Australian 535 is OZA 527-E27. These are 4 wire direct replacement unit and come with the long harness and correct plug. The problem with all the others was the harness is very short and the plugs are wrong.

John 535is

[Jeff N.]

Awesome suggestions! Thanks Bruno and John!

[Unregistered]

John, I'll get NAPA on that NGK (is that right) number tomorrow! If it is half the Bosch price and has the correct plug, no brainer!!

Paul

[winfred]

they are a bitch to solder because they are stainless steel, a little flux is all you need to do old copper/tin wires with ease


the old wires were old and very hard to solder...

[jbw535i]

John, I'll get NAPA on that NGK (is that right) number tomorrow! If it is half the Bosch price and has the correct plug, no brainer!!

Paul

Let me know what you find out? As you said a no briainer if it is a direct replacement..

Brian

[Unregistered]

The NAPA store wasn't all that helpful. They couldn't find the NTK (NGK?) number but did have both of the Ford sensors. Those are good numbers. The guy said he used to work at the local BMW store and their experience with non-spec O2 sensors wasn't good. I'd sure like to find that NTK (NGK?) sensor somewhere. I'll keep looking for obvious reasons.

Paul

[MO525]

I seem to remember reading on one of the bmw forums that you could use a certain model Ford oxygen sensor in place of the $100 BMW oxygen sensor. I know this was possible with the E28s.

Has anyone done this with an E34? And if so what is the part #?

thanks,

jbw535

My last project car was an '87 Buick T-Type (a Grand National in plain clothes).
THE best O2 sensor for them was the Denso.
IT would stand up to leaded race fuel.
Searching for that sensor hooked me up with:
www.sparkplugs.com

They have the O2 sensor we're looking for in NGK.
Factory fit is $95
Solder-it-yourself is like $45.
Don't let the do-it-yourselfer scare you.
It's a breeze.
I just did that with my daily driver '98 Metro (don't laugh, it gets 42 MPG).
BOTH of it's O2's would have been over $220.
Do-it-myself only added about 45 minutes to the job and I saved $130.

They have VERY fair shipping and lightning fast service!!!

Our beloved Beemers only have ONE to do.
So do it!!!

I will, the moment I get the "Inspection 2" list completed on my 525i.

[Smiller]

There have been major discussions about non-factory oxygen sensors on both the Yahoo E30 Digest and UUC Digest. Those who know about this kind of stuff say that Bosch recommends splicing the wires using butt connectors, and NOT soldering. Supposedly, heating stainless steel wires hot enough to flow solder changes the characteristics of the wire sufficiently to change the resistance of the sensor. This would result in an altered signal to the ECU and, therefore, the mixture would not be optimal.

Based on those discussions, I'd say you should splice and not solder the wires. But feel free to experiment, if you want.

Smiller