Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Troubleshooting 95 D-tec O2 replacement Advice needed

My brother and I attempted to replace the two O2 sensors on my 95 LX Duratec today. First one (near radiator) was straightforward.

We then removed the coil pack expecting it would be straightforward from there (this is what other posts had indicated), but we had a very difficult time due to what appears to be a 1" x 1" x 12" long black object with what appears to be a large fuse attached to it (two large black wires coming in from each side with red heat shrink on their ends. I am surprised that others never mentioned this. Its really a major hinderance. Without that, no problems!

My shop manual is no help here. Basically says just take them out, and put new ones in! (This is the official 95 Contour Shop manual, not Chilton!)

Do you REALLY just remove the coil pack and then the sensor, or are we missing something? :rolleyes:

We also tried from under the car - very ugly!

Any help much appreciated!

By the way, is the RIGHT side of the motor closest to the radiator or the firewall (I can never remember if these terms are with the person facing the front of the motor or facing the direction that the front of the motor is facing ...

I have a 95 2.5 ls Mystique, and it just has the two 02 sensors, one on the front exhaust manifold, and the other on the back side of the rear exhaust manifold. I suppose with the wire coming off, you could be talking about the rear 02 sensor, but it doesn't sound like it. You should be able to reach up from underneath and feel it on the manifold, helps to locate it to remove it from the top. My car only has the 2 02 sensors and the back one is pretty close to the egr tube... you could use that to help find it.

Yes, we are able to see the sensor on the back manifold, but its much more difficult to get to than the one in front - quite a bit of hinderance for reasons described. We will try again tomorrow - will most likely have to remove the rectangular black object (wish I had a better idea of just what that thing is).

Jab

Jab:
If rear wheel drive, motor's left side is driver's side. For front wheel drive motor is rotated 90 degrees right which puts left side next to rad, right side next to firewall. In otherwords as viewed from back of motor.

p.s. Did hi-temp anti-sieze for the O2 threads come with the sensors or did you have to buy separately?

Hi Horseydug,

Thanks for the clarification on the Right/left thing. Very easy to remember now.

I used the OEM Motocraft sensors which have anti-seize pre-applied.

Today, my brother and I will begin our journey to the RIGHTSIDE O2 sensor. We had to laugh as yesterday we replaced the oil pan gasket - somewhat involved but we were on a roll and it went VERY WELL - really no problem.

FOILED by the darkhorse right side O2 sensor! LOL

Regards,

Jab

OK, guys, we managed to get the RIGHT bank O2 sensor out and replaced. In my opinion, the biggest PITA job I've yet done. Would NOT want to do it again! After removing the coil pack, there is a very large wire conduit with attached fuse (we think) that really made the access difficult. Came close to giving up, but persistance prevailed.

I thought I gave it a pretty good look from under the car, but were I to do it again, I think I'd spend more time investigating that approach.

I don't think I will keep my car for another 80K miles, so these will be the last that I do.

Regards,
Jab

Glad to hear you got that bugger replaced... I was skiing in Banff (eh!) while you were going through this, so pardon me for arriving late to the discussion.

Anyway, for the sake of the archives, I offer my write-up of Bank 1 O2 sensor replacement . I agree, that black plastic wiring tray looks totally in the way, and I started trying to loosen it to push it out of the way, but thankfully I came to my senses.

Hi Garrick,

I am glad to hear that at least SOMEONE else out there also had problems with this sensor replacement. We kept wondering what we were missing, and kept saying "there has got to be a better way". A real son of a gun! We used the O2 sensor socket adapted down to 3/8" just as you did to break the orginal lose, then found a large open ended 7/8 wrench worked best to tighten the thing down. (sounds easy, but it is very tedious getting onto the sensor) I didnt have any codes, but noticed a definite mpg decrease the last 3 times I checked mileage. I am curious to see if this corrects that.

Good Luck,
Tim