02 Sensor HELL Update:
My 95 Contour sat while I waited for a 2nd online order from AutoZone with a 13mm deep socket. The order came FAST and yesterday with warmer weather I tackled the project of removing the stubbornly STUCK 02 sensor once again.
With some heat and my new 13mm deep socket I got the lower left stud off that was holding the heat shield on. Went well!
Thank you AutoZone and FREE SHIPPING to my rural doorstep!
Then, with a little wiggling movement the heat shield was OFF and I could FINALLY get at the badly stuck and MANGLED 02 sensor!
The idea of using a vice grip on it was a sick joke. You couldn't dream of getting any solid grip on it. Plus a vice-grip would have bent in half anyway. Hopeless. So, I used the only other option I could think of:
BRUTE FORCE!
Yes, I got out the chisel and the BFH. Actually first I tried applying heat and using a small hammer and drift. But the exhaust manifold just sucked up all the heat my little propane torch could put out and the stuck 02 sensor just ignored the little hammer and drift like they were love taps!
So then I got a big long sharp cold chisel and a BIG hammer. I then proceeded to cut a deepish groove on the left side of the mangled 02 sensor hex for a solid spot to hit. Then, using a long flat-nosed drift and the BFH I proceeded to strike at the 02 sensor in a counter-clockwise direction with greater violence.
No go.
Not a budge!
More Liquid Wrench.
Grit my teeth.
More hitting...HARDER this time!
Still nothing....
I started to sweat and feel nervous as this was my LAST HOPE!
Then I began to really SLAM the BFH against the drift!
WHAM! WHAM! WHAM!
The groove started to deform....pieces of metal came off the 02 sensor....altho it was good tough steel....not soft!
I stopped and wondered if I should call it quits for the day, but then decided to go for it and recut the groove a little bit more.
Then I took a deep breath and literally POUNDED on the drift with all my might!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
I was afraid that with each blow the manifold would either crack or the 02 sensor would break off or at least the striking groove would spall off completely and then I'd be in DEEP s__t.
Then, like a MIRACLE it "seemed" like the drift subtly shifted its striking angle!
Was I imagining it or was it really happening?
I hit some more moving the drift a little counterclockwise with each strike. OMG, it "seemed" to be turning!
More LW and more hitting:
YES IT WAS TURNING!
A minute later I had the rusty mangled freaking nasty 02 sensor totally off at last after WEEKS of worry, doubts, and struggle!
More miracles: No cracked manifold. Threads intact!
I felt happy all afternoon: giddy; giggly!
I feel that way again typing this....
VICTORY AT LAST!
The 02 sensor that came out is marked:
"Ford 94BB-9F972-DA NTK Japan"
Is this the ORIGINAL stock 02 sensor that came with the car when new in 1995? Anyone know? I suspect it is because I have lots of repair records and no 02 sensor is listed and they stopped taking it to a stealer early in the car's history and from the way that baby was STUCK SOLID and with a "94" Ford part number on it...hmmmm...I just wonder????
The moral of the story is: Don't give up no matter how much you feel that you are stumped. Of course I had the luxury of another car while this thing sat. Plus the SHAME I would have felt taking it to a mechanic who might have said when he saw the MANGLED 02 sensor: "Tried fixing it yourself, eh?"
Thanks for listening.
I just had to share this adventure in Contour Repair Land!
Last edited by JohnHoward; 02/13/05 06:56 PM.
