having trouble with o2 sensor and fuel air guage

[bmeggitt1985]

ok i am wanting to put a air fuel ratio guage in my 1995 monte carlo Z34 3.4 dohc but i can not seem to find out what kind i need a wideband or narrowband one.Cause im not sure if the o2 sensor is a narrowband or wideband.

[robertisaar]

a stocker is a narrowband, but a wideband will be necessary to run an AFR guage.

[bmeggitt1985]

oh ok why is that they sell narrow band ones that you can hook up to a stock o2 sensor

[Superdave]

they pray on people who just want to have things that look cool but serve no real purpose.

if you want to see your actual AFR then you'll need a wideband sensor and controller.

If you want a gauge that lights up neat colors and might give you a very rough idea if you are lean, rich or stoich then a narrow band is the way to go.

[Weatheralls Auto]

Because they want to sell to unsuspecting people.
To get accurate readings you need wide band (non stock) if you want just looks go with narrow.

Edit, SuperDave beat me to it.

[robertisaar]

for the uninformed.

they do have SOME merit to them, but not enough to make them worth the money. i have a NBO2 output voltage chart and have integrated it into a guage, but it's only good for WOT. just like those guages would be.

EDIT: DOUBLE FUKIN NINJA'D!!!

I'M LOSING MY TOUCH!

[pocket-rocket]

It's like those boxes with the resistor that gets hooked up to your IAT, but it has pretty lights

[Superdave]

lol...

[bmeggitt1985]

ok thanks i appreciate it can anyone tell me what color wire they hook up to on a 4 wire o2 sensor i cant find it anywhere on the internet.

[pocket-rocket]

Single wires use purple, but I forgot what the colors are on a 4 wire.

[Superdave]

[3400-95-Modified]

for the uninformed.

they do have SOME merit to them, but not enough to make them worth the money. i have a NBO2 output voltage chart and have integrated it into a guage, but it's only good for WOT. just like those guages would be.

EDIT: DOUBLE FUKIN NINJA'D!!!

I'M LOSING MY TOUCH!

Narrow-bands aren't even good for WOT... you do realize the computer ignores the O2's output when the car is in PE mode right?

Definition of a narrow-band O2 sensor.

Narrow-band sensor

As mentioned before, the main problem with any narrow-band O2 sensor is that the ECM only detects that the mixture is slightly richer or leaner than 14.7:1. The ECM does not measure the operating air-fuel ratio outside the stoichiometric range. In effect it only detects that the mixture is richer or leaner then stoichiometry. An O2 sensor voltage that goes lower than 450 mV will cause a widening of injector pulse and vice-versa. The resulting changing or cycling fuel control (closed-loop) O2 signal is what the technician sees on the scope when probing at the O2 sensor signal wire.

And a wide-band

Wide-band sensor

The newer “wide-band” O2 sensor solves the narrow sensing problem of the previous Zirconium sensors. These sensors are often called by different names such as, continuous lambda sensors (lambda representing air-fuel ratio), AFR (air-fuel ratio sensors), LAF (lean air-fuel sensor) and wide-band O2 sensor. Regardless of the name, the principle is the same, which is to put the ECM in a better position to control the air/fuel mixture. In effect, the wide-band O2 sensor can detect the exhaust’s O2 content way below or above the perfect 14.7:1 air/fuel ratio. Such control is needed on new lean burning engines with extremely low emission output levels. The tighter emission regulations are actually driving this newer fuel control technology and in the process making the systems much more complex and difficult to diagnose.

[robertisaar]

while the ECU will ignore it, it still gives useful information.