Car Upgrades: Wideband O2 Sensor
There are plenty of cost efficient upgrades that you can make to your car to improve its performance as well as increase the fuel efficiency and lessen the environmental impact of your car. The addition of a wideband O2 sensor is an example of an upgrade that can increase the fuel economy of your car. Wideband differs from standard narrow band oxygen sensors in that wideband sensors can pick up a broader spectrum of air to fuel ratios as compared to the traditional oxygen sensor. This means that if you are customizing your engine to run on a certain ratio of air to fuel, a wideband O2 sensor can ensure that you keep the engine running at that level.
Running on a lean mixture means that you have more air in your mixture than the standard air to fuel ratio. On the other hand, rich mixtures have more fuel than air than the standard ratio. If you are a car enthusiast, you know that certain kinds of engines respond better to certain air to fuel mixtures. If you can fine tune the ratio using a wideband O2 sensor, you can ensure that your engine is always running at peak performance. It’s likely if you are fine tuning an engine, you are going to be replacing and customizing more parts than just the oxygen sensor, but in the process of making adjustments, make sure you do not leave out a new oxygen sensor since it can help you to get more power from your engine, possibly even with less fuel consumption.
The voltage of the electrical signal put out by the wideband O2 sensor is what determines the level of sensitivity with regard to measuring the air to fuel ratio. The standard air to fuel ratio is 14.7:1 and anything that differs from this ratio can change the performance of your engine. This can be a good thing especially if you regularly run your engine at high throttle angle conditions. In that scenario, a different air to fuel ratio will result in better performance for your engine. In order to make sure you know the exact ratio and not just whether it is richer or leaner you need the wideband. It is the only way to accurately tune the air to fuel ratio in a high performance engine.
If you are currently working on rebuilding an engine for performance or tweaking the existing engine in your car, you need accurate data to achieve the results that you want. A wideband O2 sensor gives you the accurate data you need to make sure that your engine is running at the highest level of performance possible. An engine rebuilding project requires a substantial investment in time and money so you should by quality parts from the start in order to get the best results possible. When it is time to take the finished product for a spin, you will be glad that you made the investment in quality. So get under the hood and happy tuning.
