Will Coolant Ruin O2 Sensors

[oz]

Greetings,
I'm debugging my engine and in addition to other problems (other threads), it's running very rich - black soot on the brand new plugs.
When I took the head off recently, all the coolant ran down and off the O2 sensor I had out of the exhaust pipe. In addition, a lot of the coolant got in the pipe (via the collector which was apart) so when I started it up, there was a huge amount of water in the pipe.

Could the coolant 'bath' and then the steam from the coolant in the pipe have messed up my O2 sensor or is it able to handle that? Just trying to figure out if I need to change the sensor.

Thanks!

 

[MFE92]

Yes, it absolutely can. The silica in coolant has been known to be death to the sensor elements.

 

[oz]

I'm going to order a set just to be safe. I want to get it on the dyno after sorting out some other problems (see other threads by me) and a fresh set of sensors would be good to have.

Thanks!