What makes O2 sensors go bad?

[mdemolina]

02 Z06.

Car had 9950 miles total when it went bad.

There was some black soot looking deposit on the base of it, but otherwise it looked OK.

I did fill the car up at a nasty looking station (even though it was BP), right before it happened...

Just curious,

MD

[c4c5specialist]

HI there,
First, how do you know the sensor is bad??
Second, what codes were set??
Fact is, 2 separate causes usually cause o2 sensors to fail.
1 is the heater element shorts out, creating heater codes
2 is contamination of the sensor itself, coating the zircon element, thus causing the sensor to NOT be able to react to oxygen content.
Allthebest, c4c5

[irfgt]

Not allowing complete warm up especially in cold weather and short trips helps to cause failures.

[BillF6531]

... and, since the O2 sensor is an emissions item, it's covered by a lengthy warranty. Let GM replace it IF it's defective.

[c4c5specialist]

HI there,
First, o2 sensors are covered by standard 3/36 warranty and are NOT extended by the EPA warranty on the PCM and converter system.
Second, causes of shorting is MOSTLY due to fuel system and coolant contamination and incorrect service procedures.
Short rides, depending on calibration tuning and if aftermarket tuning is there, will not usually create problems UNLESS it has been changed from factory settings.
Allthebest, c4c5

[BillF6531]

You're absolutely correct. I keep attributing the fine warranty from my Toyota 4Runner to my toy (C5). Two different things.

[LLC5]

Originally Posted by mdemolina

02 Z06.

Car had 9950 miles total when it went bad.

There was some black soot looking deposit on the base of it, but otherwise it looked OK.

I did fill the car up at a nasty looking station (even though it was BP), right before it happened...

Just curious,

MD

What code was set to determine the O2 sensor was bad?

[mdemolina]

Thanks for the replies.

I have a much better explanation of what happened in this thread...

http://www.corvettemechanic.com/foru...read.php?t=626

So far it seems like the car was fixed by changing the sensor, but I will keep you all updated..

The only thing I can add is that the car mostly sat in a non-heated warehouse for the first
4 years of it's life. It only had 2965 total miles when I bought it, a year and a few months ago...

Thanks again,

MD

[irfgt]

I see this happen all the time . A car is stored and occasionally started and not allowed to get to operating temperature and the sensors get covered in carbon and in half the cases will not burn off after the vehicle is driven. I have Customers with other GM and other brands of vehicles that may only drive a couple of blocks a week and the vehicle never goes into closed loop and clogs the entire exhaust system. I have to drive their cars to clean out the system and some times the sensors will recover but many tmes only replacement will work.

[ToolGuy]

Originally Posted by irfgt

I see this happen all the time . A car is stored and occasionally started and not allowed to get to operating temperature and the sensors get covered in carbon and in half the cases will not burn off after the vehicle is driven. .

This is one reason why I do not start my car all winter. Starts right up in Spring and I never have any issues.