Bosch vs. Denso Oxygen Sensors

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Hate to bust your bubble but Bendix invented the electronic fuel injection system and licensed it to Bosch .
 
Originally Posted By: bruno
Hate to bust your bubble but Bendix invented the electronic fuel injection system and licensed it to Bosch .
Did they make the Rochester FI used in the vettes? But Yep on the sale to Bosch.
 
How do you know when a O2 sensor is nearing the end of its life? Or that it failed? I would imagine if it failed entirely, the car would run too rich and you'd notice the black gassy exhaust, decreased fule economy, and fouled plugs? But how do you know it's down to its last 10% for instance?

My 93 camry has the original O2 sensor (in the exhaust manifold) and the car has 228,000 miles and seems to run fine. Is there a way to actually test the sensor? With normal tools? as in I do not have an ocilliscope?

Thanks.
 
Denso hands down. I always ran Bosch in the GN which was usually run on a mix of av gas or pure race gas. With straight C-16 in the tank, the Bosch went dead in half a tank of gas and it took about a week on a mix of av gas and pump gas. My EGTs typically hit 1680 degrees at WOT so besides the lead, the car wasn't easy on 02s.

Then everyone on turbobuick.com started raving about the Densos so I gave it a try and was amazed. After 6 months of abuse it finally started getting a little sluggish in the cross counts but although I replaced it, it wasn't completely dead. It survived leaded race gas, antifreeze in the exhaust stream, and tons of turbo heat 1,000% longer than the Bosch units.
 
Originally Posted By: Vaca
How do you know when a O2 sensor is nearing the end of its life? Or that it failed? I would imagine if it failed entirely, the car would run too rich and you'd notice the black gassy exhaust, decreased fule economy, and fouled plugs? But how do you know it's down to its last 10% for instance?

My 93 camry has the original O2 sensor (in the exhaust manifold) and the car has 228,000 miles and seems to run fine. Is there a way to actually test the sensor? With normal tools? as in I do not have an ocilliscope?

Thanks.


You can manually check it to see if it swings between 0-.9V but your multi meter probably isn't going to be fast enough to catch the crosscounts. The volt meter method is only good to tell if it's not completely dead.

The best way is to take it to a shop that has free diagnostics and have them put it on a scanner to watch the action of the 02.
 
http://www.sparkplugs.com usually has both Bosch and Denso, as well as NGK O2 sensors for much less then any local chain store like Auto Zone. I bought two Denso pre-cat sensors for the same price AZ wanted for one. Also a good place for plugs too. No affiliation, just like to save a few bucks whenever I can.
 
I propose that for some cars the proper harness length and OEM connectors are more important than the brand. Universal O2 sensors don't work (well) in conjunction with every engine.
 
I have used Denso with no problems, every time I use Bosch I found them to be lazy and/or not to last as long as the Denso. Could just be my experiences.
 
What's your daddy say?
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Originally Posted By: moribundman
What's your daddy say?
LOL.gif

Not to trust Germans... But then again he is Italian so maybe that's why!
LOL.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Vaca
How do you know when a O2 sensor is nearing the end of its life? Or that it failed? I would imagine if it failed entirely, the car would run too rich and you'd notice the black gassy exhaust, decreased fule economy, and fouled plugs? But how do you know it's down to its last 10% for instance?

My 93 camry has the original O2 sensor (in the exhaust manifold) and the car has 228,000 miles and seems to run fine. Is there a way to actually test the sensor? With normal tools? as in I do not have an ocilliscope?

Thanks.


If your smog check came out both near the legal limit of the HC and Nox, then the O2 is near its end of life.
 
Not necessarily... High HC can be a converter or worn engine, and Nox can be a bad EGR valve or an engine in need of a tune-up, and in rare cases again a catalytic converter depending on emission control setup and/or design of the converter...

Check Engine lights with codes and/or testing the sensor's voltage response is best and most accurate.
wink.gif
 
Originally Posted By: The Critic
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
There are two types of Bosch sensors... the "grey box" that are sold at autozone, and which are universal or near-universal. Sometimes you have to splice the connectors, sometimes it has a correct connector.

The "yellow box" has been in my experience, an OE Bosch part, with the correct connector and exactly like the original. These are generally a few dollars more.

What is the brand on the car originally?

JMH

I said in my original post OE style sensors, so I'm referring to the plug-in type that does not require any crimping.

I'm not sure what brand is OE on GM vehicles--I'm not home at the moment. What brand is OE on your truck?


OEM on the S-series were Denso, but the Bosch also work just fine IMO. Oddly enough for many years the upstream Bosch for an S actually appeared to be a unmarked Denso unit, I guess they hadn't developed one of their own for the application yet.
 
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Originally Posted By: StevieC
Nox can be a bad EGR valve or an engine in need of a tune-up


Nox can also be caused by an engine that's carboned up. I know of at least one car where an induction service fixed the Nox problem.
 
Originally Posted By: Axe Man
Quote:


Most vehicles, especially after OBD-II mandate in 1996, use a 4 wire O2 sensor with a preheater.
My 2 1996 Saturns only use a one-wire sensor on the ex. manifold.
 
Originally Posted By: brianl703
Originally Posted By: StevieC
Nox can be a bad EGR valve or an engine in need of a tune-up


Nox can also be caused by an engine that's carboned up. I know of at least one car where an induction service fixed the Nox problem.


Yes that's true, but most cars nowadays that detect an O2 sensor out of range will simply ignore it and use computer values based on other oxygen sensor readings etc. This stops the engine from carboning up like past models used to because they relied heavily on the Oxygen reading instead of calculating using other O2 / Tps/ MAF sensors.
 
Originally Posted By: StevieC
Yes that's true, but most cars nowadays that detect an O2 sensor out of range will simply ignore it and use computer values based on other oxygen sensor readings etc. This stops the engine from carboning up like past models used to because they relied heavily on the Oxygen reading instead of calculating using other O2 / Tps/ MAF sensors.



When did that started? I always though that if one O2 is out of range it will throw a CEL and run in open mode. Does that happen only with V6/V8 that has 2 banks of exhaust and 2 pre CAT O2?
 
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