Picked up a used car for my daughter

Tiny
LALFAN
  • MEMBER
  • 1999 SATURN SL2
  • 149,000 MILES
Picked up a used car for my daughter. Did a few things to it and wanted to drive it to make sure everything works. Check engine light came on with a p0133 code. Upstream oxygen sensor response slower than minimum required switching frequency. Cheap books dont tell much. What do I need to look for. Thanks
Sunday, February 24th, 2013 AT 9:08 PM

20 Replies

Tiny
HOMER1967
  • MECHANIC
  • 875 POSTS
If that is the only code you have, then you need a new oxygen sensor, it's b1 s1 when just means it's the first 02, closest to the motor. Ask for sensor 1 or the pre cat sensor. These sensors on this vehicle have a huge failure rate.
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Sunday, February 24th, 2013 AT 9:29 PM
Tiny
LALFAN
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So its just slow to reply to the pcm to tell it what to do?
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Sunday, February 24th, 2013 AT 9:45 PM
Tiny
LALFAN
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  • 179 POSTS
Does the single cam motor have this problem to. Scanner showing lean to rich and rich to lean counts
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Sunday, February 24th, 2013 AT 10:05 PM
Tiny
HOMER1967
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Yes, slow response time. In our business we refer to it as a lazy 02 sensor. And your car has a huge failure rate for the b1s1 o2.
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Sunday, February 24th, 2013 AT 10:06 PM
Tiny
LALFAN
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So is that why it shows lean to rich and rich to lean counts on the scanner? Just changed it and deleted code. 49 bucks for bosch
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Sunday, February 24th, 2013 AT 10:52 PM
Tiny
SATURNTECH9
  • MECHANIC
  • 30,869 POSTS
Yeah I have replaced a ton of those for that code.
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Sunday, February 24th, 2013 AT 11:23 PM
Tiny
HOMER1967
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The switching of lean to rich and back to lean is normal, the problem is that the lazy sensor doesn't do it fast enough.
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Monday, February 25th, 2013 AT 12:02 AM
Tiny
LALFAN
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So if switching back n forth from lean to rich or rich to lean is normal why scanning one car has like 79 counts of doing this n another car has zero all the time. Does any miss fires cause anything to do with that?
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Monday, February 25th, 2013 AT 12:51 AM
Tiny
HOMER1967
  • MECHANIC
  • 875 POSTS
It all depends on the air to fuel ratio at which the car is running, the 02's job is to keep the vehicle at a 14.7 to ratio of air to fuel, which is called stoichometric ratio. But if a condition such as a vacum leak or leaking injector exists which cause an extreme rich or lean condition then the 02 will stay positive or negative to try to control the fuel trim. And yes a missfire will definately cause unusual 02 action due to the excessive amount of either raw fuel or air intering the combustion chamber.
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Monday, February 25th, 2013 AT 2:37 AM
Tiny
LALFAN
  • MEMBER
  • 179 POSTS
Drove car today. No codes. Scanned it. Had rich to lean and lean to rich counts. 131 and 144. Cyl 3 had 3 misfires. Egr test count 3. Cam resync counts 7. A/f ratio 14/7. Anything look off or pretty normal. Or anything else I should look at. Thanks for all the info
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Monday, February 25th, 2013 AT 11:26 PM
Tiny
HOMER1967
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Your welcome, the only thing I see there that I would be concerned with is the three missfires.
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Monday, February 25th, 2013 AT 11:32 PM
Tiny
LALFAN
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I had checked the plugs earlier n looked pretty good. Tightened the gap a little. Didnt have any misfires before I got the code for the o2 sensor. Drove about thirty miles today n got the three misfires
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Monday, February 25th, 2013 AT 11:53 PM
Tiny
HOMER1967
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It may clear up, I woyld drive it a couple hundred miles and see how it goes.
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Monday, February 25th, 2013 AT 11:55 PM
Tiny
LALFAN
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Ok thanks
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Tuesday, February 26th, 2013 AT 12:19 AM
Tiny
HOMER1967
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Your welcome.
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Tuesday, February 26th, 2013 AT 2:57 AM
Tiny
SATURNTECH9
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What kind of spark plugs do you have in there?
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Tuesday, February 26th, 2013 AT 3:50 AM
Tiny
LALFAN
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Dont remember off hand what they were. Checked gap and condition n put some anti seize on them n put them back in. Do u have a recommendation for this thing. U usally answer all my saturn questions. I can check if u want or let me know what works best. Want it running good n hope good on gas. My daughter will be driving it. God for bid. Thanks
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Tuesday, February 26th, 2013 AT 11:35 PM
Tiny
SATURNTECH9
  • MECHANIC
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You don't want to use platnuim plugs in that engine they carbon foul and cause miss fires. NGK copper plugs ac delco copper or Bosch super copper plugs.
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Wednesday, February 27th, 2013 AT 3:51 AM
Tiny
LALFAN
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Ok thanks. Will check. They looked good, but will check
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Wednesday, February 27th, 2013 AT 10:05 PM
Tiny
SATURNTECH9
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No problem
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Thursday, February 28th, 2013 AT 2:45 AM

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