See my post below :D

just the job!

 

been there though with a scaffold bar and crow foot and still the fooker wont move uk 15year old virgins for you!

Have got to agree, the crows foots usually twist or splay open, the only thing is, you have to make sure the extension bar is not going to break, cos they are only 3/8's!

if your changing them, i snapped off the top and use a normal socke on mine

this one?

 

 

that looks majorly dodgy because if the square thing is where you attach 3/8th extension bar when you rotate the the extension bar the torque will not be in the right direction to unscrew the sensor. I cant see how that can work???

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I would of though something like this would be better where the torque is in a straight line with the bolt.

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item.asp?P65=&tool=all&item_ID=69215&group_ID=1448&store=snapon-store&dir=catalog

 

 

Anyway, this whole sensor thing is right royally doing my head in! in my desperation yesterday i took it to a kwik fit(!!) only for them to tell me they cant do it unless they provide the parts. They sent me to another garage up the road. At this place i showed the old turk guy exactly where the sensors where and that you dont need to get it up onto a ramp to do it. But he gave me all this cr@p that he had to come in from the side and pretended he knew the car saying it was 5 bolts to get in there. I told him it was a solid firewall but he was having none of it. I asked him for a price and he said £150!!!!

 

If it was a fiesta they would have no quibbles for such a routine job but because it is something exotic and the engine bay must look a bit daunting for these guys who poke about in a peugot 1.4 engine bay all day and they just take the total pisss!!

 

I am so annoyed with this treatment from london garages (i also think the first place i took it to have put a scratch on one of my t-tops!!!) that i was going to ring up z-tech and go all the way out there to get it done BY A PROFESSIONAL MECHANIC not a semi-skilled conman but i see they are shut down. SWZ are a long way away from me but i would do it if i could take my car there on a friday afternoon and they could do it while i wait and i can take it from there back to my parents in dorset for the weekend.

 

SURELY THIS SHOULDNT BE SO DIFFICULT!

i started to use the special tool but it was so tight it just opened the end of the tool and started to round off the nut. take one long screwdrived and a hammer and smash off the end of the sensor then an impact socket will fit over the top , worked for me ;-)

So you used the exact same special tool above and you are saying the tool didn't work?

The only thing I found to help me was to cut the wires, feed a ring spanner over the sensor and give that a heave-ho.

 

Soldering the wires afterwards isnt a possibility, the solder didn't want to stick. Use a connector block and seal it with silicon to stop corrosion.

 

Job done.

 

HTH

My apologies I thought that socket I originally posted was the same as this one that I have, this one is the daddy :D

 

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=W84008&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

 

Tom the socket you are showing does not fit in the engine compartment, never had any issues with the one in the link whatsoever :bow:

 

Tom I think you have your engineering head on :), the we are trying to remove a broken sensor here not torque down a head onto a block ;)

PRAISE THE LORD! my O2 sensors have now been fitted.

 

Took it to Nassa in aldershot who are a jap specialist and i know them from picking some silicon hoses up from there.

 

(Took me over an hour to get out of london and only half an hour from the start of the M3 to aldershot but that is another story!)

 

Was relived to see 2 other zeds in their garage ( dont know if they are anyones on here, a lovely gray Jap NA with 99 front spolier and a two-tone black and scarlet one) as it meant they wouldn't open the bonnet and suck their teeth and start feeding me *****cks when they saw where the sensors were!

 

anyway, it wasnt a problem for them. Took just over an hour and cost £60+VAT and they raised my car on the lift and showed me a blow in the exhaust i had.

 

would recomend them. not too far from london and much better than any of the "standard" london garages i have been to. contact me if you want their number.

 

Thanks for all your help on here guys. It meant i wasnt going into these garages scratching my head and letting them rip me off. i will give you a ring next week Mark to have a quick re-conzult if that is cool.

 

Tom

Glad you finnaly got it sorted mate

problem with spanners and sockets is getting movement, a someone said you can smash the ceramic top and fit a socket over in worst case scenario

go to a renalut garage and have a look at their sockets, they are like a larger spark plug socket, with one side of the socket that swivels round, you can then fit it on, swivel the side back round and use it like a normal socket, also leaves the wire in tact

these ones, there are different types, but im sure these are the ones i used to change the o2 sensor on mine when i first got it

 

Hi Stella,

 

To be truthful four out of those six sockets are redundant bud, because there is no room to fit the extension bar into the top of the sockets!

Hi Stella,

 

To be truthful four out of those six sockets are redundant bud, because there is no room to fit the extension bar into the top of the sockets!

 

not sure now if they are the correct one's i used, but saying that it was the one on the battery side that i replaced, my bro in law done it for me at the reg vardy renault garage and only took about an hour to change, they had all kinds of different wobbly extension bars that worked well, they use them for (i think) the renult espace v6 as its a nighmare to work on

I used a similar one to the ones in that kit. I used a sh*t load of force, but they wouldn't budge. The socket opened up and is still wrapped around my O2 sensor now!! I was going to fit divorced downpipes, but after this episode I gave up.

I used a similar one to the ones in that kit. I used a sh*t load of force, but they wouldn't budge. The socket opened up and is still wrapped around my O2 sensor now!! I was going to fit divorced downpipes, but after this episode I gave up.

 

 

It all really depends on the quality of the socket, the one I posted up in the google search is the same socket that snap on sell and it does not open up and won't round the sensors off because it is six sided!

there is always plan b, weld another boss further down downpipe and fit another sensor there extending wires and use a wideband sensors with gauge

rich

As long as the wideband is compatible with the ecu then you are fine, bit of an expensive alternative though :)

i use the aem wideband and it ahs duel output o-1 v for narrow band like stock and then use the 0-5 v for the wideband and you know exactly what ur afr is

rich

smash off the top and use an impact socket and strong rachet bar worked for me

The only trouble with smashing off the top is that you can stress the turbo/gaskets and/or manifold and gaskets!

can u not get the hot spanner in to help? wont need as much force then ;) always comes in handy where i work :hyper:

can u not get the hot spanner in to help? wont need as much force then ;) always comes in handy where i work :hyper:

 

 

LOL there isn't any room to get normal spanners in!