O2 Sensors, How do i know when they are bad? Options

[sapperk]

Any one know how i can tell if my O2 sensors are bad? My car idles like crap at low speeds, and jerks. I tried almost every other thing and according to troule shooting its the O2 sensors. But they are expensive, so does anyone know?

Also are both O2 sensors the same. Top and bottom?

[BLADDER_MASTER]

Seems like I was going through the same issues. The idle was hella crappy. It would fluctuate from 800-1000rpm when the engine was cold. Then after a long period of driving (About 2 hours), I couldn't floor it. 1. because when I would floor it, the car felt like it clutch-kicked itself (when I didn't) and the mofo would jerk hella. 2. because after i got past that "clutch-kicking" phase, I would go towards redline and the mofo had trouble getting there. It would struggle to reach 7kRPM to the point where it wouldn't reach it (Super ghey). In the end I changed the O2 sensor to a Bosch Universal O2 Sensor and it fixed the problem. No more crappy idle (ghey), engine clutch-kicking itself when floored (super ghey), and no more struggle to reach 7kRPM (ultra ghey). I almost bought the OEM type which was about $100 more, but after I found out that the Universal type works the same, I said "SCREW YOU!!" to the OEM type. But to clarify I got a 3S-GE (4-wire O2 Sensor) unlike your 5S-FE (1-wire O2 Sensor). So I don't know if my solution will work for you as well.

This post has been edited by BLADDER_MASTER: May 20, 2005 - 3:30 PM