Bbk Long Tubes O2 Sensor Problem

[Joshspears]

Hi, I joined this forum to try to help some guys out that might be plagued with the same issues I have.

Anyone who has a 3.7 with the BBK longtube headers knows that it eats O2 sensors left and right. I have personally gone through 4 sets in a matter of 50k miles. Ive heard tons of theories of why it might be eating them. Resistance issues, location, bad extensions. Whatever. No one has proven anything yet though that I'm aware of.

Here's my theory. Moisture. I believe that these sensors are too far down and its allowing the sensor to bath in moisture. Over time why would this not cause issues? Every time I change my o2s they have droplets of water on them. I removed my x pipe and they were soaked.Now if they were moved way up closer to the block like the stock location then these moisture issues will no longer be of concern. Either way. I believe I have come up with the solution to this issue. Only time and miles will tell though. So far so good.

What I did was grabbed a couple of old oxygen sensors. Mocked up where I wanted them with paint pen. And moved them back up to the stock location. Now we're only monitoring one cylinder on each bank this way but it eliminates moisture issues and eliminates the need for the BBK extensions as well. Two birds one stone. Why do I have faith in it only monitoring one cylinder per bank? I got this idea from borla. I did some research on borla and mimicked their design. If borla does it it can't be wrong in my opinion. If anyone here would like step by step directions on what I did speak up I'll post them.

 

[Choppertwo]

Hi, I joined this forum to try to help some guys out that might be plagued with the same issues I have.

Anyone who has a 3.7 with the BBK longtube headers knows that it eats O2 sensors left and right. I have personally gone through 4 sets in a matter of 50k miles. Ive heard tons of theories of why it might be eating them. Resistance issues, location, bad extensions. Whatever. No one has proven anything yet though that I'm aware of.

Here's my theory. Moisture. I believe that these sensors are too far down and its allowing the sensor to bath in moisture. Over time why would this not cause issues? Every time I change my o2s they have droplets of water on them. I removed my x pipe and they were soaked.Now if they were moved way up closer to the block like the stock location then these moisture issues will no longer be of concern. Either way. I believe I have come up with the solution to this issue. Only time and miles will tell though. So far so good.

What I did was grabbed a couple of old oxygen sensors. Mocked up where I wanted them with paint pen. And moved them back up to the stock location. Now we're only monitoring one cylinder on each bank this way but it eliminates moisture issues and eliminates the need for the BBK extensions as well. Two birds one stone. Why do I have faith in it only monitoring one cylinder per bank? I got this idea from borla. I did some research on borla and mimicked their design. If borla does it it can't be wrong in my opinion. If anyone here would like step by step directions on what I did speak up I'll post them.

Nice, let know if this solved the problem

 

[David Young]

My MPT tune kept kicking a 'bad 02' sensor code. MPT sent me a new tune with the rear 02 sensors turned 'off'., for free. Problem 'fixed'

 

[85 Coupe 5.0]

I have this same concern on a customer's 2014 3.7L Stang. It keep ruining the O2 sensors. Usually 3-6 months at most. Both sides have been replaced twice now. Has BBK addressed this, or is there a verified fix? Thank you in advance!

 

[David Young]

What little I know from what I have read. If you loosen up the 'factory' 02 sensors wiring harness (to make them longer) and 'do not' use the 02 wiring harness extensions supplied by BBK, it will work better. I'm too lazy and just have my 'tunes' redone with the rear 02 sensors turned off. I've been running my Mustang for over 4 years this way without any problems. Good luck and let us know how things turn out

 

[85 Coupe 5.0]

The car currently has a tune on it, with the rear O2's entirely removed both physically and in the tune. The issue we are having is, that the front sensors keep failing prematurely. The car has had a total of (4) new O2 sensors over the course of a year, two each bank. I noticed that the Borla headers.....have the O2 bung in the rear cylinder primary tube vs. the BBK's are downstream on the collector. So far, BBK tech support states no known issues, however did not offer an reason as to why Borla does not mount the sensors in the same location.

 

[85 Coupe 5.0]

I ended up moving the 02's to match the Borla Heaer's sensor location. So far, no issues, but I need to give it some time ~6-8 months to be certain. Until this point, the car was failing 02's rather quickly as indicated. The diagram in this pic is of the Borla headers, the picture is were I moved mine: