• Welcome to the Contour Enthusiasts Group, the best resource for the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique.

    You can register to join the community.

Wideband being weird.

T

Tourige

CEG's Resident Jackass
Joined
May 25, 2004
Messages
3,484
Location
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
So today i get in my car to go to work, i look down and my XD-16 is showing --- Im assuming at the time that one of the connections has come loose and that i just need to plug it back in. Fast forward a couple hours, I check all connections and everything is fine, Guage turns on everything lights up, starts heating up.. then the AFR comes up.. a WHOPPING 4.5 AFR with the engine off.. I figure something is messed up so i remove the sensor and do an open air calibration, check the car again and now at open air its a 20.1+ sounds about right. Screw the sensor back in, go into the car and BAM.. AFR is at 4.5 with the engine off... What gives???

Also, when the AFR is at 4.5 its sitting at the top of the Gauge, also, normally when i rev the car the AFR drops, then runs LEAN and the gauge goes crazy (this is normal) Now when i rev it the AFR goes to like 3(points to the rich side) and then just returns to the "normal" 4.5
 
Open air should be 20.9% period. Anything else means the calibration is off. There is no, "ah gee it's close enough."
 
DemonSVT said:
Open air should be 20.9% period. Anything else means the calibration is off. There is no, "ah gee it's close enough."
Click to expand...


yea it goes to 20.9 in free air. but the minute i plug it into the exhaust it drops down to 4 blah blah... I've tried everything but reprogramming the LC-1. ill tackle that tom.
 
Small Update: I reprogrammed the LC-1 and XD-16 again(the LC-1 was reading some custom A/F setup) set everything up, open-air calibrated the thing, It works.. but its showing my AFR as something totally wack, at start up its saying 8 AFR and after a while it moves up to 14.5, but it isnt constant. It will move all over the place, from rich (25+) to stoich, its not rhythmic either... Also when i go WOT apparently im running 7.5AFR... Is my wideband messed or what is it? I guess ill see if someone around me has a wideband so i can pin point the problem.
 
I had to purchase a replacement sensor (was like.. $10x.xx) from innovate less than a month after I got the car.

Water tends to do that.. ruin sensors. Including the EGT.
 
Actually Im working in a garage (part time) and we have had nothing but bad luck with Innovates sensors (whichever supplier they use). We have gone through a couple in a very short period of time.

I was actually quite surprised. I havent been the one dealing with them, but Im fairly certain they have not been replaced for free.
 
It makes no sense tho.. it goes from working great, to not working in ONE NIGHT.. nothing changed, it didnt snow, it didnt get cold out, i didnt even drive the damn thing less getting it out of my driveway... GRRRR.
 
didn't I read on the innovate website that unsufficient heater voltage, insufficient warmup time, extremely rich AFR's and RAPID CHANGES IN TEMPERATURE (cold, not running, in the winter to warmed up and running engine) could quickly ruin a sensor?
 
Ray said:
didn't I read on the innovate website that unsufficient heater voltage, insufficient warmup time, extremely rich AFR's and RAPID CHANGES IN TEMPERATURE (cold, not running, in the winter to warmed up and running engine) could quickly ruin a sensor?
Click to expand...


Its been like 3-5 above for the past like 3 weeks, not very cold..

Hmm.. Ill probably unplug it and just not run the gauge all winter.

How do you clean the gauge? is there any safe way of doing it?
 
I've had my wideband running for 3 years straight now. It is still accurate and operating perfectly. (recal'd once a year roughly)

Another thing the sensor is only $40-50. Do not get ripped thinking you have to go buy one from Innovate. It's a VW sensor and has numerous cross reference numbers.

VW part# 021-906-262-B (~$40)
Bosch 17014 or 17053 (~$50)

IIRC the LS1tech forum has a list of other cross reference numbers.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top