Recently, I did a quick video intro on oxygen sensors but I thought we’d go a little deeper and explain why oxygen sensors are needed and how exactly they keep an engine running efficiently. At its core, an engines computer needs to know what the fuel mixture is with a high degree of precision so it can optimize fuel economy as well as emissions.
If the information received by the powertrain control module (PCM) from its sensors isn’t accurate, it may ask for too much fuel or not enough. And that’s a problem: A rich mixture wastes fuel, while a lean mixture may misfire and waste power — while also causing a big increase in hydrocarbon emissions. What my new video, part of the Counter Intelligence series, here.
