02 sensor headache

[oldskewel]

I've got a 2001 3.0i

I just had those O2 sensors out and back in again, still working fine at 186k miles. I took them out as part of my top-end engine rebuild.

I had no problems at all using my O2 socket to get them out and back in (no cutting wires, etc), but this is a CA car. I bought my first car when I was living in Boston, so I know it is a little different out there.

But some info might help:

Those O2 sensors are screwed into a single piece that is the exhaust manifold + cat. If you think getting the O2 sensor out is tough, I promise you getting the exhaust manifold off the head will be tougher. It may have been the single toughest part of the rebuild. So there may not be much benefit to thinking about removing that.

Working back from that point though, it's pretty easy (with no rust). I ended up needing to remove pretty much the entire exhaust except for the driver's side rear muffler. Pretty easy, although it sounds like a lot. I did it to get clearance for removing and carefully reinstalling the exhaust manifolds.

So yes, you might get more working room by removing part of the exhaust from the O2 sensor on back. But don't plan on removing the exhaust manifolds.

I also disconnected the sway bar (roll bar, anti-roll bar, stabilizer bar) links and the sway bar bushings (required removing the stiffening plate) - did all that for just a little extra room to extract and reinstall the exhaust manifolds. Not sure if it will help on the O2 sensors, but was pretty easy for me, and I know sometimes doing a lot of little easy things can make the one really impossible thing possible.