I am thinking of buying a walker oxygen sensor and wanted to know if anyone out there can tell me anything about them I was qouted 114.00 for the bosch at autozone. I found the walker on the internet for 69.99 or 39.99 for one without the plugs but it has a splicing kit for using old connectors. That is a huge savings. I am thinking of getting the 39.99 one.

Thanks in advance,
J santos

There's no reason to pay too much; generic sensors are fine.
I've never had a problem with either, but all the dead ones in cars I've bought have been Bosch.

Not only is a generic sensor OK, but you don't even need to waste money on the heated 3-wire! What a racket that is, heating something in the exhaust pipe.

Take a look at http://www.homestead.com/volvo2/O2sensor.html to see how you can retrofit to use a $20 single-wire generic sensor.

--
Matt L. -- Cary, NC -- '91 740 wagon

What a racket? It's about the air quality bub. The O2 sensor needs to be fairly hot to do any good (as does the cat convertor). The heating element helps the O2 sensor become useable more quickly.. reducing cold start emissions and fuel consumption. Similarly the quicker the cat warms up, the quicker it can work. The big trick has been for automakers to get all this stuff operational as quickly as possible. I believe "pre-cats" have been somewhat popular (and a somewhat doomed endeavor at least in the case of the Rx-7).

So why should you care? There are a variety of sources that say cold starts are a rather large source of pollution. Volvo's one of them. Someone posted an article to the swedishbricks list about how they've managed to create an emissions system that results in air being more pure at the tailpipe than at the air box.

Don't think car emissions are a big deal? Driven through Southern California recently? They say it's improved....

- alex

'85 244 Turbo

There are advantages to the heated sensor. If you take short trips like I do, the non heated ones never get hot enough to be useful. Also the heated sensors last longer.

Thanks for the reply. I wasn't able to get to the webpage maybe you can email me the link. my email is jls1765@bellsouth.net
thanks again.

go with bosch, see fcpgroton for great prices for OE fit. Cheaper for three wire universal ones.