Oxygen Sensor

[ndutton]

Hanley's a special case. One of his charms is a desire to know everything possible about his little 4 banger flathead and as such many here have enjoyed the benefit of his 'obsession' (offered in the most friendly way). The same could be said about that guy who obsessed over the coil/EI/resistor enigma.

[edwardc]

Is anybody having a specific issue that an O2 sensor solves or is this a gadget that's cool to have but without significant benefit to an otherwise well tuned engine?

In my youth I was taught to power time and adjust a carb by feel so I'm comfortable there. My engine starts instantly, runs smoothly, consumes fuel at the expected rate and the plugs look good. Anything to be gained significantly with a sensor system?

I, too was adjusting my carb "by feel", with the dist advanced before TDC, but still backed off a ways from the "max RPM" position.

But I just can't resist some gadgets. And what I found surprised me.
As I suspected (sooty plugs), my mixture (both Idle & Main) was rich. But leaning out the idle caused a drop in rpm, and a roughness. Both of which were eliminated by advancing the dist. timing to compensate. Before this, I always hunted for the middle of the best running spot on the idle jet. But in order to get the mixture right I actually had to adjust the idle jet to a worse position, and then compensate elsewhere.

But now I know it's right!

So there's some benifit to those of us with inadequate "feel"

In addition, I'm planning an offshore run down the Delmarva coast this summer, and need to plan for potentially having to motor the whole way (this happened the last time I was on this trip), so mileage is a concern.

[ndutton]

I went through a similar epiphany with the belt tensioner. I was completely surprised how much unnecessary tension I had been applying (not only to the belt but more importantly to the aux drive and alternator bearings) with the old skool prybar and grunt method.

In my case I'm not experiencing sooty plugs so my gadget resistance is up. If I were we'd be having a different conversation.

[Administrator]

Not to be parsimonious, but regarding the oxygen sensor, ars gratia artis, and

[YOUTUBE]Otm4RusESNU[/YOUTUBE]

Bill

ps:

[ndutton]

Don't constrain me with budget

Why limit yourselves to O2 data? Why not go for the full Monty? Here is a commercially available system with 4 cylinder gas engine compatibility:

http://www.insightavionics.com/g3.htm

What's another 32 hun uninstalled?

[edwardc]

Aaaaarrrrgh!......MUST......RESIST.....(pant, pant)

Seriously though, $3200 would buy a REALLY nice solar panel system, which I would find FAR more useful.

On the other hand, I think the $85 for the gauge & sensor was reasonably well spent. Plus, I got the gauge from my wife as a Christmas present, chosen from the list of things that "were nice to have but I didn't REALLY need".

[ndutton]

Exactly Ed.

All of us have different cost vs. benefit vs. shiny new bauble thresholds. In my case I keep reminding myself it's a SAILboat.

The avionics package was an extreme example but the slope can get slippery. Given 32 hunny to spend, it would go toward new sails long before anything engine related.

Now, if there were only a Minney's for aircraft . . . . .

[hanleyclifford]

A little nudge?

You know, Ed, after reading that link Neil posted it begins to look like we just might be getting him slightly out of the "old skool grunt and pry" mode. BTW, the Dutton Device alternator tensioner has functioned flawlessly this entire trip!

[ndutton]

Upon further review . . .

Here ya go - a third the cost.

[Dave Neptune]

Not for me.

I'll keep my tach, vac gage and ability to read plugs. They have there place when working with FI put can really do little for carburation with such limited metering abilities.

Dave Neptune

[joe_db]

That would be fairly useless for an A4. There is no way to tap in EGT sensors for individual cylinders and the cylinder head temperature is not a big concern for water cooled engines.
I have got good use from one of these on a Lycoming IO-540

Here ya go - a third the cost.

[ndutton]

My two posts with monitoring systems was a bit tongue in cheek as to how extreme this could go. Digging around the web though there are a few systems already out there that are for non-aircraft applications.

Most use OBD-II data but I stumbled across one that was programmable to your own sensors. I was casually clicking through various sites so of course I didn't save that particular one. I was looking for an analog system that monitors - among other things - O2, fuel pressure, manifold vacuum and exhaust pressure. I found some that monitored one or two parameters but not all four.

Then I ran across a site with step by step instructions of how to convert your carbureted engine to EFI with their kit, something that's been mentioned more than once around here. Their example was on a V8 so I can't say it would work on our engine. It was only kind of interesting, I grew weary before reading everything.

[hanleyclifford]

Then I ran across a site with step by step instructions of how to convert your carbureted engine to EFI with their kit, something that's been mentioned more than once around here. Their example was on a V8 so I can't say it would work on our engine. It was only kind of interesting, I grew weary before reading everything.

C'mon Neil---no fair---give us the link---puleeeeze!

[dvd]

Oxygen Sensor??

And we need an oxygen sensor why?

DVD

[Dave Neptune]

Why indeed?

Because Hanley has one!

Dave Neptune