Where Is the Oxygen? Clean air for all of us.
Brought to you by Water Star Motors: Import Car Repair
Your Serene, Green Auto Repair Team and Small Business of the Year.
Written by Henry & Lisa Carter
What is all this talk about oxygen sensors? Can’t we sense when there is oxygen in the air by ourselves? Why does my car need one?
Almost everyone who has owned a car newer than 1980 has had to, at one point or another, deal with an auto repair shop telling them, “There is a problem with your oxygen sensor”. Regularly there is no explanation of what it is or what it does, but that it is going to cost a lot of money. It will cost even more if a bad one is not replaced because the chances increase that non-action will ruin the catalytic converter as well.
What is an oxygen sensor? Initially this was a pretty easy question to answer. The original Oxygen sensors were sensors that screwed into the exhaust pipe of a car and sensed what kind of gases and emissions were about to enter the atmosphere. They were (and still are) made from expensive exotic metals. They were sort of like a cure all!...
Replacing it will make all things with your car good again.
In today’s cars the oxygen sensors seem more mysterious than ever. Since the mid 90’s there are at least two if not four oxygen sensors (and sometimes six.) Also, in the early years there was only one type of sensor. Today, cars run a minimum of two oxygen sensors that could be any one of three different types!!!!
What do theses sensors do? All oxygen sensors monitor what is coming out of your exhaust pipes. They constantly send information to the car’s computer so it can optimize fuel efficiency and performance. They let the computer know how well the ignition is working, if the injectors are performing up to standards and they also track your driving habits. Today’s car computers may know more about you and your driving habits than you want it to. Don’t worry though, under normal conditions your car won’t let anybody but your favorite auto technician know.
These wonderful oxygen sensors are what is making today’s cars cleaner than ever before. Thanks to modern technology and oxygen sensors the air cars take in is dirtier than the exhaust they put out. This modern equipment is actually cleaning the air they are using. Can you dig that? Cars are actually cleaning up the mess that they supposedly created in the first place. Yippee! (This is especially true of Hybrids and ULEV’s –Ultra Low Emission Vehicle) Rumor has it, that because cars now clean the air, bigger cities are no longer creating car pool lanes.
Thanks to technology like oxygen sensors and regular smog checks, we have reached a position where automobiles are no longer the leading cause of air pollution. All of the other industry in our world is where we need to focus our energy now. But remember, this does not mean we can lower our automotive-guns. It may mean that the better we get with automotive performance the cleaner the air we get to breath.
To the average person this implies that the better you take care of your car the longer you and your family might live, thanks to cleaner air. Car not running well? Check engine light on? Bring it to Water Star Motors and let us check it out. You may get to live a few more years as a result of your proactive stance in the life of your car.
Water Star Motors is at 318-A River Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95060. 831-457-0996
We want to answer your car questions through Rock, Paper, Car.
Send questions and comments to: Henry&Lisa@WaterStarMotors.com
