When To Change An Oxygen Sensor In Your Car Or Truck

Most drivers on the road today do not know when to change an oxygen sensor on their car or truck. A majority do not even know what an oxygen sensor is. This little sensor may look modest, but it is critical to your vehicle operating at its optimal performance. By measuring the oxygen content in your vehicle's exhaust, and then transporting this information to your vehicle's engine computer, it plays an important role in generating the proper air to fuel mixture your internal combustion engine requires. The perfect mixture is important, and there are a number of reasons why you should keep a close eye on your oxygen sensor in high mileage vehicles.

The majority of car manufacturers recommend that you change your oxygen sensor every 60,000 to 100,000 miles. Even though your check engine light isn't on, it is still recommended you change the part. The reason for this is because the part gradually becomes covered in road debris and ash, and when it does it does not perform as accurately. As the part begins to fail it sends inaccurate readings to your vehicle's computer, and the computer takes these inaccurate readings and creates the air to fuel ratio from them. What results is a less than optimal mixture for your vehicle's engine.

This may not seem like a big deal. So the air to fuel mixture isn't correct. Well this can have consequences. The biggest consequence is the environmental impact. Oxygen sensors were designed to help reduce harmful emissions from entering the atmosphere. If your sensor is failing, your vehicle will be releasing higher levels of pollution into the environment. With the number of people on the road today in North America alone, that adds up to a lot of excess pollution. Another consequence is an increase in fuel consumption by your vehicle. When an oxygen sensor provides the wrong reading that means the engine computer can create a mixture that has too much gasoline in it and you end up losing a large amount of mileage with each tank of gas.

This is why it is best to keep a regular interval of when to change your oxygen sensor. By waiting for the part to completely fail and your check engine light to turn on you have a larger carbon footprint, pay more at the pump, and put your engine through extra wear and tear.