M54 Rear Oxygen Sensor DIY

[andrewwynn]

I just replaced my bank 1 sensor 2 last night.

My car has a vibration damper on the inboard exhaust pipe that made it impossible to get the sucker off.

I could not get enough torque on the 3/8 drive Crow foot to break it loose so I cut the cord, broke off the cap on the old sensor so I could hammer on a deep socket 1/2" drive. 25-30" of extension made it easy to break loose.



Once loose I used my Dr Seuss (goes around corners) ratchet to remove.

I used a slotted socket to do the basic install with the Dr Seuss ratchet. I used a crow foot and my torque adapter and a healthy dose of anti-sieze to install.



I couldn't fit the torque adapter on top of the straight socket but the crow foot worked perfectly. (have to make sure the crow foot is perpendicular to the breaker bar so you don't throw off the torque). 50 Nm is what I found online for the proper torque.



Picture from the outboard side of the pipes. I actually was using the thread chaser at this point = why no wires.

The Dr Seuss ratchet has a 200° infinite step swivel at the head and another 200° flex joint about 3" from the head.

It's a priceless addition to my x5 fixing toolkit. My favorite use was turning the E torx bolts that hold the rear bearings. I literally did a u turn and was installing a bolt that was pointing at me from the other side of the wheel.