Replacing an Aged Oxygen Sensor (Hyundai Trajet).

With the rise in fuel prices locally, I decided to replace a 5 year old sensor in this vehicle. Heated oxygen sensors do not last long as manufacturers claim and can either get really lazy in their output or just plain fail.

Read on for this quick and low cost job.

Step 1: Removing the Old Sensor.

I took off and discarded the stupid heat shield on the exhaust manifold. My car has had its heat shield removed for over 7 years with no problems. This car should not gripe about the same.

Using the sensor socket, I removed the old one after disconnecting the harness and the battery negative. See how sooty it looks?

Also see the long Crack in the exhaust manifold? Those cast iron manifolds all tend to do that.

Step 2: Comparing the Old and New.

The new sensor already has antisieze coating on it. Looks all shiny! It's ready to serve it's time until Valhalla! What a lovely day!

Step 3: Installing the New One!

Hyundai engine bay electronic connectors simply don't last long. They Crack and break. I believe these vehicles were not meant to have a long service life. I find it rather short sighted that the engineers for Hyundai did not select better material for their connectors.

The oxygen sensor connector was previously broken. It was confusing what orientation to plug the new sensor into the engine harness. On the sensor there are 2 white wires for the heater element. On the engine harness there are 2 orange wires which I tested to give 12 volts to the heater. Now I knew what orientation to plug the sensor connector.

Pretty easy. Now the vehicle runs smoother and uses a bit less fuel!