Fuel Economy Tip - Check Your Car’s Oxygen Sensor
October 12th, 2006 | by Brian Carr |Have you noticed that your car’s gas mileage has become progressively worse over time, even though your driving habits haven’t changed and there doesn’t really seem to be anything wrong with your car? If this is the case, it might be time to have your car’s oxygen sensor checked and replaced.
Essentially, an oxygen sensor that is working properly will measure the oxygen levels in your car’s exhaust manifold to determine whether or not the engine is receiving the correct amount of fuel. If the sensor detects too much or too little oxygen, it will adjust the amount of fuel supplied to the engine accordingly.
As with many things in your car, these oxygen sensors tend to go bad over time, so you never really notice a drastic change in your car’s gas mileage. Typically, as the sensor ages it will detect more oxygen in the exhaust than there actually is. This will lead the sensor to cause more fuel to be sent to the engine, and because this fuel isn’t needed, it will essentially be burned off and wasted.
Most oxygen sensors go bad between 30,000 and 100,000 miles (I know, that’s a pretty big interval). As I stated earlier, you’re probably not going to notice a drastic change in your car’s fuel economy, but if you start to see gradually decreasing gas mileage over time, it’s probably worth it to have the oxygen sensor looked at or replaced.
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