Oxygen Sensor Benefits
3 December, 2020.
Oxygen Sensors benefits: Oxygen sensors can be found on the exhaust manifold of an engine (pre-catalyst sensor) and another along the exhaust pipe(post-catalyst sensor). In between the pre and post catalyst sensor is a catalytic converter, this mainly converts harmful or toxic gases in the exhaust gas to less harmless and ozone friendly gases.
The pre-catalyst oxygen sensor monitors the amount of oxygen in the exhaust gas, in other words it senses the air/fuel mixture in the exhaust gas. To detect if the oxygen is “too much” or “too little” in the exhaust gas.
If an oxygen sensor reads a “too much oxygen” in the exhaust gas, this implies that there is a lean mixture (meaning the fuel mixture with the air is far lesser). And in some cases it can cause poor engine performance, which include poor idling of the engine & misfire.
Oxygen Sensor Benefits: On the other hand, if an oxygen sensor reads a “too little oxygen” this implies a rich mixture (meaning the fuel mixture with the air intake is far too much), in this case the fuel economy on the vehicle is altered causing excessive emission as a result of too much fuel been burnt.
Moreso, the secondary function of an oxygen sensor apart from monitoring the oxygen in the exhaust gases, is that it generates a voltage signal based on the amount of oxygen in the exhaust gas and send this signal to the ECM (Engine control module) “brainbox” to regulate or balance the air/fuel mixture, either to increase or decrease the fuel ratio with the air intake.
The post catalyst oxygen sensor, basically monitors the operating efficiency of the catalytic converter, by comparing the oxygen levels in the exhaust pipe before the catalytic converter and after the catalytic converter.
So if the post catalyst sensor read the same oxygen level with the pre catalyst sensor, then the “efficiency of the catalyst converter is below threshold”, meaning the catalyst can no longer convert the toxic gases to less harmful gases.
Finally, oxygen sensors do not only control the fuel consumption, they equally protect the atmosphere against harmful and toxic exhaust gases our cars emit.