Lambda sensor ohm reading?
Lambda sensor ohm reading?
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Larry Dickman

Original Poster:

3,762 posts

242 months

Saturday 11th December 2010
quotequote all
Does anybody know what the correct ohm reading should be for the heater element in a 03 Ford street ka 1600cc pre-cat lambda sensor?

I removed a faulty zero reading sensor & replaced with a universal one but have problems. The ohm reading on the universal one is 4.1 which I thought was low, so today I removed a correct sensor from a matching ka at the breakers only to find that it reads 3.8 ohms.

I can't find what the correct reading should be anywhere.


eliot

11,989 posts

278 months

Saturday 11th December 2010
quotequote all
stick 12v on the heater wires and see if it gets hot. WARNING: It will burn your fingers if it is working correctly.

Mr2Mike

20,143 posts

279 months

Sunday 12th December 2010
quotequote all
The heater elements in narrow band sensors are self regulating by nature i.e. increase their resistance with increasing temperature, so there is very likely to be differences in the cold resistance between different brands.

Providing your heater circuit is actually working then your problem (what is it?) is most unlikely to be related to heater resistance. If you are getting heater circuit fault codes then check the relay, fuse and connectors etc.

Larry Dickman

Original Poster:

3,762 posts

242 months

Sunday 12th December 2010
quotequote all
Thanks for the replies & strangely enough I'm just about to fit the sensor I got from the breakers.

They both heat up ok so I know they are both working to at least some degree.

The problem is the engine management light will come back on after clearing the code, it may take two hours or two days but it will find the same heater circuit fault code. The feed to the heater element is live when I test it but I don't suppose that will rule out an intermittent wiring problem. I don't even know where the relay for it is situated but that will be the next thing if fitting the correct sensor doesn't cure it.

I don't like the universal sensors & am hoping that is the problem somehow.

ETA.. The more I think about what you've said about the band sensors being self regulating the more sense it makes to me, I'm now feeling more optimistic about fitting the correct one curing the problem. Fingers crossed.

Edited by Larry Dickman on Sunday 12th December 12:33