[asaqwert]

hi all....i was on last time and i got some help with fixin mah supra so i figured i'd come on back

i'm an avid reader and avid tuner

anyways...about 5 months ago i replaced my o2 sensor with one from napa, only to realize that about a month after i replaced it (i only noticed it then, im' not sure when it actually happened) that it had "blown up". what i mean by this is that the end cap (the plastic thing that the single wire comes through) actually "fell" off but looked like it had actually been blown off....and there where little fibers hanging out of around the rim of it (sorta look like the fibres that some spark plug wires are made of, or even what some old school telephone "wire" looks like under the insulator). i went and got a new one, same thing happened again within a month and i've been through 4 now....

(the brand is the napa brand, which is my initial suspicion as to the cause)

i've got no idea whats cuasing this...

my exhaust is straight through 2" pipe with a gutted cat and a high flow muffler (yum...loud) so i'm pretty sure its not too much pressure casuing it...

at least one of the times it happened, the inside of the sensor (the part that is inside the cover that sits in the exhaust stream) was blown apart too, like into little pieces...

the only things i could think of that might cause this are:

1. engine running hot and somehow fucking the o2 up (i know my car runs relativly hot, needs a coolant flush too...)

2. some kind of SICK vibration blowing it all apart (i can't feel anything though, the car seems to run like butter except the richness which i'm pretty sure it due to to a lack of a functioning o2 sensor)...i don't see how this one could casue it

3. somehow the napa brand o2 sensors suck ass with my car

my next step was to get them to order an NGK o2 sensor as a replacement which will cost me an extra 30 bucks or so...but oh well i hope that fixes it

if that doesn't fix it, i think there's gremlins in my exhaust that beat up my o2 sensor because they don't want me to go fast

any ideas?

this is on an 83 supra with 5mge motor btw...basic mods but nothing extensive (intake, exhaust, electric fan)

thanks all

 

[85SilverWedge]

anyways...about 5 months ago i replaced my o2 sensor with one from napa,
(the brand is the napa brand, which is my initial suspicion as to the cause)


3. somehow the napa brand o2 sensors suck ass with my car

I don't wish to seem overly simplistic, and if there is a strange cause I hope someone here points it out, but I see the problem as everything I left in my quote from your post, N-A-P-A. My experience with 20 years of working on my own cars, and having actually worked briefly with the company, they are an absolute LAST resort for parts. It's not just them, all your discount auto parts places are pretty much the same. I would have spent the extra money on OE, rather than change it several times. IMHO as always.

 

[asaqwert]

any other ideas? the ngk one will be installed soon anyways but just wondering if anyone can point any other possibilities out?

 

[shiva]

maybe you've been backfiring out the exhaust. those can be violent sometimes. i don't know what exactly might cause it , sometimes it's lean conditions (esp under deceleration, ever hear any popping?), sometimes it's rich conditions and unburned fuel sparking in the header *shrug* just a thought maybe you could keep an ear out for it.

 

[asaqwert]

yea, actually i get lots of backfire under heavy decell...

like...if i hold the throttle at *just* accellerating then back it off all the way and tap it again lightly...i'll sometimes (and by that i mean usualy) get a loud popping

if i am givin her a hard run and i'm at a pretty high rpm then back the throttle off totally i'll get a fair bit of pops and other exhaust noises....

maybe this has something to do with it? i dunno....any ideas how to fix it? my car sometimes reminds me of a VW with the amount of decell backfiring

 

[asaqwert]

timing is at 14 degrees advanced btw

exhaust is straight through...and i'm not sure what else about it u'll need to know

ask away though

thanks again

 

[StanS]

could be air leak into exhaust mani

 

[Darrow]

while were on the topic of o2 sensor

is berg warner a good brand of o2 sensor. shucks sells them for about $45. thinking about getting one to see if it helps my car. and is $45 a high price for an o2 sensor?

 

[asaqwert]

well....first off.....my new NTK (ngk brand) o2 sensor cost me 80 bucks canadian WITH taxes and whatnot, it was like 69 before taxes (14.5% tax fyi americans)

i pulled the stop fuse for about 10 minutes after installing her then put it back in and went for a drive

before i went for a drive though, in my stupidity, i sprayed the belts off with "honey goo" which is a fuckin amazing penetrating lube....because the belts were FUCKING NOISY but now....i think i fucked it all up

my car overheated really easily last night....like way easier than it ever does....so my theory is that i lubed the waterpump belts and now its not spinning right or something? also i put the timing back to 10 degrees btdc

any ideas about anything here now?

 

[shiva]

don't know about your overheating but i could see lube doing that... GOOD JOB i'm kidding

maybe try doing the afm mod to see if the backfire goes away if you haven't already


shiva

 

[Crocket]

re: NAPA brand Sensors

I too have had an issue with NAPA brand O2 sensors. I bought one for my 1990 Celica, as it had an upcoming emmissions test to pass, and still had the original 02 Sensor in it. I figured it would be cheap insurance seeing as how I had to replace the cat aswell. Anyway, the car ran fine for maybe 2 days, at most, then I started having all sort of part throttle driveablility issues. After some trouble shooting, I traced it to the NAPA O2 sensor. Pulling it out and comparing it to the stock Toyota brand sensor I can understand why this one was messing with my cars driveability. The sensor probe is maybe 50% shorter than the Toyota brand unit, which means it doesn't quite stick into the exhaust stream. Exacerbating the situation, the NAPA brand sensor housing doesn't have the same number of ventilation holes allowing for exhaust gases to flow in and around the probe, which means when driving at part throttle (open loop) the car wasn't getting an accurate a/f reading, meaning my air/fuel ratio was all messed up, leading to my loss of power at certain rpms, hesitation, poor driveability etc..... . To make a long story short, you get what you pay for, and I learned a good lesson. Stick with OEM where it counts!

Sonny

 

[asaqwert]

well holy fuck....i fixed her


the NGK brand O2 sensor worked fucking wonders....

i put in new belts today (napa brand but fucking its a belt lol....i'll trust em there until it breaks) and flushed the rad....

used new coolant and added RedLine water-wetter....fuck me if she doesn't overheat one little bit....i also put in a 10 degree lower thermostat...

i *was* having problems with it overheating now that i put in an electric fan that doesn't quite cover the whole rad....but now it didn't rise at all from the middle of the digi-temp gauge....even when i ran it HARDDDD and it would normally overheat even before i stupidly sprayed the belts...

thanks for all the input...and now as my determination...never use an off-brand (aka napa or whatnot) for anything that has to do with sensing or something important....belts and hoses i'd have no problem with cuz they aren't precision devices...but as far as plugs or sensors go....go oem or at least a real brand i think....thanks again

kpeace

 

[StanS]

Running lower temp thermostat will shorten engine life cause acids
don't get boiled off, if you solved your overheating problem with all
the other mods/fixes.

 

[asaqwert]

if you change the coolant often enough it shouldn't matter...first off

and secondly....the lower temp thermostat lowered my temp to the "normal operating temperature" range anywways...it isn't lower than it should be so the acids that need to be boiled off will be anyways


although i've never heard of this theory myself...but either way it should be fine.....

 

[Darrow]

from a chemical stand point acids don't boil off. only the water boils off which in turn concentrates the acid. for example to make concentrated sulfuric acid like the stuff used in batteries a lower concentration of H2SO4 can be used and reduced by boiling the water off. from a mechanical stand point no water or anything should, in theory, leave your coolant system. many new cars have a closed colant system where nothing enters or exits that's why they can go so long with out a coolant change.
just my 2 cents woth with in todays economy is woth nothing. darrow

 

[AJ]

I think StanS was refering to oil dilution/contaiminates, if an engine isnt run at operating temps for long periods ie short trips.

Running lower temp thermostat will shorten engine life cause acids
don't get boiled off, if you solved your overheating problem with all
the other mods/fixes.