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View Poll Results: Who has had a bad Oxygen Sensor?
Yes, have had them replaced. 6 33.33%
No, never had a problem. 12 66.67%
Voters: 18. You may not vote on this poll

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      09-14-2012, 01:40 AM   #1
ANILE8
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Oxygen / O2 / Lambda Sensor Failure

Just a note to anyone who is having similar problems.

First i thought it was the petrol, but after two tanks this was clearly not the case.

If your S54's engine is running rough, surging, bucking and/or missing this may be the cause.

My vehicle only has around 17K km / 11K ml on it so not very old.

The fault codes were front Lambda Sensor Errors. Can't remember the exact code number.

These are very expensive little suckers. The two o2 sensors on the headers are the ones that I have read normally go bad. Each bank of three cylinders has an o2 sensor.

The faults cleared by themselves when I scanned the car again on my laptop after I replaced these parts.

So looks like that was the problem.

It also makes the job much much easier if you buy an o2 sensor removal tool. Worth the money just to get the job done.








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Last edited by ANILE8; 09-14-2012 at 01:46 AM..
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      09-14-2012, 03:23 AM   #2
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I've had them replaced 3 times so far... The first two times i had the engine light on and it turns out it was the sensors and the last one it wasn't on and i trying to cure a case of bad throttle response at low revs and hesitation with the rev build up. The first two times i believe it was caused by bad fuel. I used to put 100 octane gas from a particular petrol company (EKO, Greek one). Ever since i switched to 98 i didn't have a Check Engine Light again.
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      09-15-2012, 06:02 AM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ga41 View Post
I've had them replaced 3 times so far... The first two times i had the engine light on and it turns out it was the sensors and the last one it wasn't on and i trying to cure a case of bad throttle response at low revs and hesitation with the rev build up. The first two times i believe it was caused by bad fuel. I used to put 100 octane gas from a particular petrol company (EKO, Greek one). Ever since i switched to 98 i didn't have a Check Engine Light again.
Yes, they are the symptoms I had too. I had poor throttle response and intermittent hesitation when accelerating through the rev range. I remember reading about your problems with o2 sensors in another post or forum and that is what lead me to suspect this problem. I want to let others who might one day read this thread know what could be wrong with their vehicle.

I too suspect it was bad petrol. I used Shell V-Power exclusively since my vehicle was new. I am now switching to BP Ultimate. I don't know if it will make any difference but I am willing to try after hearing bad things from friends about this issue.

To have them replaced three times is getting serious. How many km's did you have when they were replaced each time?
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      09-15-2012, 12:09 PM   #4
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Much less than 10.000km! The last set (on 98 gas) has lasted longer so far. Symptoms of bad O2 sensors are firstly the Check Engine Light and then bad throttle response, rough rev build up and hesitation and ultimately running very rich. But the latter symptoms occur only if you run it with faulty sensors for a long time. Which I foolishly did the first time it happened because the stupid service supervisor said it wouldn't hurt anything if I did...

The 3rd time they were swapped along with many other things to cure other gradual throttle response and hesitation problems but I cannot be sure which particular part made the difference. I'd also had the ECU reprogrammed to the latest, had the spark plugs replaced, the coils replaced, the injectors professionally cleaned, the catalytic converters replaced (they were indeed destroyed inside though, most probably because of the excessively rich mix the car had been running for a time.) and several sensors manually checked for correct voltages. Eventually the problem was almost completely cured but I cannot know which particular part was the one that fixed it. Maybe it was a combination of some of the above.
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      09-15-2012, 11:38 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ga41 View Post
Much less than 10.000km! The last set (on 98 gas) has lasted longer so far. Symptoms of bad O2 sensors are firstly the Check Engine Light and then bad throttle response, rough rev build up and hesitation and ultimately running very rich. But the latter symptoms occur only if you run it with faulty sensors for a long time. Which I foolishly did the first time it happened because the stupid service supervisor said it wouldn't hurt anything if I did...

The 3rd time they were swapped along with many other things to cure other gradual throttle response and hesitation problems but I cannot be sure which particular part made the difference. I'd also had the ECU reprogrammed to the latest, had the spark plugs replaced, the coils replaced, the injectors professionally cleaned, the catalytic converters replaced (they were indeed destroyed inside though, most probably because of the excessively rich mix the car had been running for a time.) and several sensors manually checked for correct voltages. Eventually the problem was almost completely cured but I cannot know which particular part was the one that fixed it. Maybe it was a combination of some of the above.
It is easy to test the coils yourself and also the plugs before you replace them.

I am not against routine maintenance but I hate spending money on parts unnecessarily. Dealers would probably want to sell you every last spare part under the sun that they could distantly relate to the problem to make bulk dollars at their rip off prices.

When I ordered the o2 sensors myself against the advise from my favorite indy shop I was praying like Hell it was them otherwise I stood to blow about $500.00 in parts and shipping alone. However, this was around half the cost of the spare parts from BMW Australia.

Thankfully on this occasion my research and information I downloaded from my BMW Scanner 1.4.0.9 program payed off in spades.

What made you suspect your cats were stuffed too?
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      09-16-2012, 01:14 AM   #6
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I forgot to ask, what your fuel consumption is for city driving.

Mine is about 16L~17L/100km around town. I thought this was pretty bad from what others on this forum are claiming to be getting.

Since changing the o2 sensors my fuel consumption figures have not improved.
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      09-16-2012, 03:56 AM   #7
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I failed the emissions test when i went for an MOT and the shop told me it might be the converters. I didn't believe them at first, it's only a 6 year old car after all, but turns out they were right... When i removed them you could even visually see that the cells inside were destroyed...

My consumption is the same mate, i do mostly stop/start, 1st-2nd gear driving during the week, can't be helped....
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      10-03-2012, 11:09 PM   #8
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Gents, is there a way to clean or at least check the cats to see if they are healthy? I replaced my header for euro headers and after moving my post O2 sensors I get a low voltage heater in the bank one sensor 2. I already replaced all the gaskets and one O2 sensor and the CEL comes back after clearing it error.


Any thoughts?
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      10-04-2012, 12:11 AM   #9
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My emissions were off the roof and you could actually see the damaged substrate when the cats were removed from the car...
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      03-13-2013, 12:31 AM   #10
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I just bought this 2007 M coupe with 40k miles about 2 weeks ago and so far I LOVE IT! TN requires an emissions test to get tags. Took it in to the emissions station and passed no problem. About 3 or 4 days later (not exactly sure on the time frame) my Service engine soon light came on.

P2197, P2415, P2629 were the codes it was throwing. O2 sensor Bank 2 Sensor 1.

Could an emissions test have possibly caused an O2 sensor to fail? It just seems crazy that the car could pass emissions but then not even a week later the code was throwing.

Also trying to find the part on bavauto is a little confusing to me. I typed in the part Oxygen Sensor and came up with these two part numbers.

1)11 78 1 406 621 is $150.95 for cyl 1-3 which is bank 1 correct?
2)11 78 1 406 622 is $100.95 which is the one I believe i need cause it says for cyl 4-6

Just making sure i'm not buying the wrong part. How much of a pain is it to DIY? Thanks
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      03-13-2013, 12:50 AM   #11
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Looks like you have the right ones.
The best place to check first is RealOEM.com. See here.
Then go to ECS tuning if you want to see a picture. See here: Front. Rear.
Once you have the part number confirmed, buy from getBMWparts.com (a.k.a. Tischer). They have the best prices, lowest shipping charges, and fastest delivery, IMHO.

Oh, and I don't think having it smogged had anything to do with the failure. Just a coinky-dink.
Coulda been worse, coulda failed just before smog.

Just entered the voting with "never had a problem". 81k miles. This is going to be a major jinx.

Last edited by StickMon; 03-13-2013 at 01:03 AM..
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      03-13-2013, 01:05 AM   #12
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Haha Stickmon. Hoping not for you. Thank you for all your info! I found a Bosch part at Amazon!

http://www.amazon.com/Bosch-15168-Ox...ds=bosch+15168

Made sure it matched up with realoem and it's the same part.

Last edited by Steenos; 03-13-2013 at 06:50 PM..
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      09-22-2013, 08:35 PM   #13
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Reviving this thread because I think I have found part of my problem of rough running/idle issues, etc. My car finally threw an SES light and when scanned, read out two fault codes: P1633 and P2629. The P1633 is something to do with throttle (have tried replacing TPS under the intake manifold with a known working unit from my father's car, and felt zero difference). The P2629 is O2 sensor I believe, and from what others are saying on the forum here regarding the symptoms, I'm thinking that it's the problem.

IIRC, the code is for the primary O2 sensors in the USDM headers. Can anyone share info as to whether I should go ahead, bite the bullet, and replace *both* sensors to the tune of $400? Anything else I should check first?

Thanks in advance!
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      11-30-2013, 04:47 PM   #14
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wanted to rez this thread. I've got the same error on my M3, have also had wierd throttle fluctuations but they went away.

I have turner's test pipes, does that void the warranty on 02 sensors? Should I even bother taking it in to the dealer and have them look at it?
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