umichchris

hey everyone, ive been having some intermittent sputtering issues during acceleration over the past couple months. its getting progressively worse. i am almost certain that its the O2 sensor needing to be replaced. my reasoning 1) the check engine light came on w/ the 'increased emissions' warning. 2) i only have the issue while accelerating. there is a sputtering/loss of power about 2 or 3 hundred RPM drop in power. beyond that all other performance and response is fine.

so here's the question, rather than hit the stealership, i know its quite simple to replace the O2 sensors right? just locate under the car and use a special wrench to take them off and put the new one on right?

but, how many of them are there? at the auto parts store the tech asked me which one i wanted to buy. he saw at least two options and they were $137 each. any thoughts on how many sensors there are total and any way to diagnose which one is actually bad? i do have the full BMW tools suite on my PC but im not certain how to read the engine error codes (yet).

help!

Isaiah_Charles

There are 4 I believe 2 of mine are burning rich, I also think its causing my car to misfire. I watched my mechanic change an 02 sensor on an e46 M3 looks like plug and play to me but they're so damn expensiveeee :thumbsdown:

Isaiah_Charles

Sorry to crap your thread, but are Bosch 02 sensors good? Some of us use Bosch spark plugs right? Autozone sells the sensors for abt half the price

umichchris

There are 4 of them? where are they located? is it 2 pre-cat and 2 post-cat? anyway to figure out which ones need to be replaced before i go and spend $135 each on 4 of them lol....im still trying to avoid the dealership....can my IPNA or NCSExpert give me the codes to read (im a coding newbie but down to check it out)....

Isaiah_Charles

Not so sure, heres the pic

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...31&hg=18&fg=10

My mechanic put mine up to a GT1 and was able to tell me.

umichchris

what kind of performance issues were u having? i went from an engine sputter to a short episode of rough idling last night while at a red light...not a good look given that i was out cruising on Woodward showing off my recent mods lol

Isaiah_Charles

I havent changed them, I hear it misfiring from the exhaust, the idle isnt really rough tho, sometimes when I put it in D it's a little jerky or R

bimmerzone

OP, there are 4 on your car, and each one a little different
As for the price, we do have the BOSCH ones, the precats are $108, the post cats are $98 (w/ free shipping)

If you know which one is bad, just let us know..


Vincent