Oxy Sensor Problems!

[justins]

I've got a '97 Passat GLX (VR6) hangin' roun' 70K miles. A while back the check engine light came on, so I hit AutoZone had them plug the POS computer checker in, and tell me what it was. They could only narrow it down to "Probably one of your Oxygen sensors, but we don't know which one". I thought I could just buy one of each, change'm both, and call it all good.

One was $250 and the other was $180. How can I tell which one it is? I do NOT want to pay the local VW dealer $65 to tell me which one it is, let alone pay them to swap out the bad one.

Does anyone have some experiance with these emission tools of modern day machinery? I'm so old school if it's newer than '70 it's too new for me.

Also, what is up with the oil filter cost? My gawd, it's just paper. Doesn't even have a metal can around it, how do they get off charging $12 bucks for a pos filter on sale? My old stuff is a buck on sale for a good one. Sigh, how come I bought a VW I'll never know, but the leather is nice I'll give it that, and my wife LOVES the car.

Thanks for any and all help,
Justin

[boschmann]

Most places should be able to tell which sensor is the problem. If they can't tell from the code, go to someone who has a scan tool that can look at the datastream to see which sensor isn't functioning properly. O2 prices are alot cheaper here. Our VW dealer reduced the prices on the A3 Golf/Jetta/Beetle sensors to $18 because there has been so much trouble with them.

[justins]

That's great news .. more or less .. lol .. I'm in Goldsboro but was in your part of the state a last year to get a dash for my '67 Comet ..

I'll ask my dealer here more directly what it'd cost to get this one fixed .. as far as I'm concerned a VR6 is a VR6 is a VR6 when it comes to Oxy sensors ..

I used to have the paper that said wich bank was bad, but lost it. I'll see if I can scrounge it back up and post it on this site, maybe someone can point me in a good direction.

Thanks for your time,
Justin