Determined that I had a bad o2 sensor. Look at the wiring I found when I took the loom off. PO or somebody really did some shoddy work. It still tested bad regardless of the wiring.

 

The idiocy never stops.....

 

It sure doesn’t. Crud work!

 

That reminds me of my driver's door speaker problem I fix last week. Turns out someone years ago had replaced the length of speaker wire through the door and rather than doing a crimp connection just twisted the wires together and wrapped them in electrical tape.

 

What is it with people doing work like this? Laziness? Being in a hurry? Or just ignorance? If you can’t do it right, don’t do it all. If you don’t know how to do it, then research or ask someone who does know. There are so many resources out there today, like this forum.

 

Worse than that, I've seen twist type electrical wirenuts used in vehicle electrical circuits and not even taped over! You know the kind, right? Little (or big) plastic cone-shaped things you twist on a wire pigtail like in residential wiring, designed for solid wire. Sometimes you'll find them in small appliances. They give absolutely no weather protection and tend to fall off if vibrated or stretched. The way this guy didn't have a butt splice so used a ring terminal is classic dumb****, especially since with 02 sensors, we're talking about microvoltage signals! In my life I've looked at cars for sale and turned them down simply because the wiring was a rats nest that I didn't want to mess with. Also, the only time I bought an 02 sensor that didn't have a harness plug on it was a single wire type used on early TBI cars. Even then, it was soldered and shrink-wrapped.

 

dave1123 I found some of those wire nuts when I put my new stereo in! Unbelievable!

 

Yeah, there are many people out there who feel electricity is a mystical force that they are afraid to touch, and then there are people who think they know it all, and people who know just enough to make them dangerous! What I'm talking about is finding you don't have a supply voltage to a sensor and jumping it with 12v when it needs 5v, frying the sensor or the PCM!

For entertainment, check out Vise Grip Garage on Youtube! This guy's a rip! He buys abandoned cars and trucks and gets them going again to sell or fix up. I love some of his sayings, like when dumping gas down a carb to get it going he'll say "Wow! That's WAY too much! Perfect!" Or he'll call spark plug wires Lightning Pipes! Plugs are called Sparkelattors. You should see what he can do with old paint with years of chicken stuff and tree sap on it and getting it actually shiny with very little work. He's favorite peeve is "Why don't any of these cars have brakes?" Yet he'll drive them home!

 

LoL! I have to check that guy’s YouTube channel out lol!