O2 codes, quick please!!

[RickwithaTbird]

I had my codes checked at autozone and had PO156 and PO161.. Bank 2 Sensor 2. Is that the passenger side O2 sensor behind the cat? Im gonna jack the car up and check if its unplugged or anything. He said it read the code, then it said pending, then it checked again and got the codes again.. he said that means it must have gotten that code at least 150 times.. I didnt really understand why, but is there any other possibility, or is it definitely a bad sensor. He sounded pretty sure it had to be the sensor. NE ways... thanks.... Rick

[RickwithaTbird]

alright this sucks, its dark out now, and its getting colder by the minute and my G** D**** o2 sensor will NOT come out of the pipe. I sprayed WD40 all over that S***, and the only jack i have is the stock crank jack and its not high enough and its getting in my way, and im 6'8 so i have big hands and long arms and its hard as **** to get anything done under there, I have to lay half way to the back wheel to be able to stretch my arms out to the sensor and from there I cant even see it. And I just read in my Chiltons manual that you are supposed to use a multi meter to check the volts.. I dont have a multi meter and I never used one before either. this sucks. I wish the driver side O2 sensor went out.. its easy to get to but the right side one is a B****. guhh.. sorry for being such a grump but this just blows goats. does anybody have any tips or advice?

[RickwithaTbird]

well I got it. I had to get a loaner socket set from autozone, and spray a half can of WD 40 on it, and it still wouldnt budge, so I laid on my back and had my cousin pull my left hand as hard as he could, while I pulled the socket wrench with my right hand, and after a few tries, we got it to break loose. What a B****. Now I really dont know if it is tight enough. I tightened the new one as much as I could but I really doubt that it was sufficient. I mean, it was pretty tight.. too tight to undo by hand, but I didnt get near as many turns on it as I did when I was taking it off. Ill be pissed if bank 2 is the driver side. Dude said bank 2 is on the odd number side of the cylinders, which is passenger side right? if not im gonna piss and moan and cry and pout like a little girl, and then dig my old O2 sensor from the garbage, then put it on my drivers side, while cursing and complaining the whole time. but hey, thats life sometimes. Can anybody confirm for me that bank 2 is passenger side? thanks... Rick

[flewthecoupe]

Never could keep them straight. After about 80,000 miles it's good to replace them all in any car anyway.

[RickwithaTbird]

shoot.. I got 107000 miles and thats the only one ive replaced

[T-BYRD]

Originally Posted by flewthecoupe

Never could keep them straight. After about 80,000 miles it's good to replace them all in any car anyway.

Hate to reply to this 1 since its been so long that its been around,but I am running the same set of O2's that came original on T-bird,144,000 and Cougar 145,000.Now both of these cars are getting excellent gas mileage,with Cougar down some at the moment,but average 20mpg to 26mpg on the Cougar and T-bird is unbelievable at 24mpg to 30 mp.Now with what I understand is that if you go to headers,then you need to change them out for sure to get good performance out of the car plus gas mileage.I bought a set with my headers for the simple reason that the leads will not be long enough and dont want splice or get extension harness' for them,plus it was recommended by the manufacture and dealer for the headers.So they are OK til you start having bad gas mileage or a check engine light on that tells you if they are bad.As for cost of O2's,not bad,the 1's for the headers were only $58 a piece,so thats not too bad on the wallet..Just my worth of experience and info found around from some hot rodders/dealers..

[97Bird]

It sounds like you were laying under the car with just your stock jack holding it up. DON'T BE AN IDIOT!!!!!! Either buy a set of jack stands or ramps to put the car up on while you are working on it. If you want to work on your car act responsibly and be safe. Too many people have died needlessly because they didn't take the time to put stands under the car before they crawled underneath! It doesn't take much effort to rock a car off of a jack. I'm sure you must of heard of someone dying from being crushed. Jack stands or ramps aren't expensive and they can save your life!!!!!!!!!!!! Enough said.

[RickwithaTbird]

I have been under the car with only the jack stand many times, Ive given the car some shoves, got in it, shut the doors, etc. it really seems like its sturdy, I honestly can't see the car falling off it... I havent personally heard of people dying from that, but on that particular occasion my cousin talked me into putting some cinder blocks underneath it just in case, and I did. The strange thing is, I became a lot more worried about it once I put the blocks underneath it. I do want to get the ramps though, because they would be very convenient.

[J_ROC812004]

u know what i have found out about ramps and my birds is that it is very easy to mess up your bumpers paint job because it sits so low if i can insist to u in getting a 1 ton jack and some nice jackstands and wheel chocks u will not have this prob :-)

[97Bird]

Your cousin has the brains of the family I see. I'm glad he talked you into putting something under the car. Your comment " I honestly can't see the car falling off it... " is what a lot of people believed before they were crushed. Why do you think the owners manual says not to place any part of your body under the car when it is only supported by the jack? As far as ramps hitting the bumpers, go to Autozone and buy a pair of Rhino ramps (I have the 12,000 lb ones) and you won't have that problem. The actual ramp on them is longer then most of the ones on the steel ramps you can buy. This means the incline isn't as steep so there is more clearance to your bumper. I wish you a SAFE and Happy Holiday season and New Year.

[flewthecoupe]

Don't confuse jacks and jack stands. Jack stands are perfectly acceptable devices to support your car while you work under it. Jacks are not. Cinder blocks aren't either. Use wooden blocks. My neighbor several years ago used cinder blocks. They decided they didn't want to hold the car any more and I don't have they guy as a neighbor anymore, either. If cinder blocks give, you'll have no warning, they just let go. Wooden blocks seem to be the next best thing to jack stands. They will at least creak before they let go.

Just my 2 cents.

[RickwithaTbird]

about my cousin having the brains of the family.. lol. no. if you only knew... I'll make sure to invest in some rhino ramps pretty soon, I appreciate the concern.

[JoeyICU]

my buddy with a 2" droped bird gets up the regular ramps fine, we just go really slow, mine shoots right up it at stock height, yeah for yanking on something really hard like that id have a jackstand under it myself, and i live dangerously working on cars, i do it for a living witch one did you replace the rear one?

[RickwithaTbird]

well, while my cousin was pulling my left arm, and I was holding the wrench with my right arm, I wasnt even under the car anymore.... but enough about that, really, I know I do need ramps... oh and um, yeah I replaced the O2 sensor behind the cat, on the passenger side. I dont know if it was even bad, Im suspicious that ford pulled a vacuum line so Id go back to them, and its causing me to get that code... Im not sure though, its just that the check engine light came on during my trip home from ford the only time I ever had them work on it, and made them pay for everything because I had just bought the car. They werent too happy with me thats why I think they might have set something off to make the codes come up.

[97Bird]

Why would a dealer want to have you come back for more repairs if it is under warranty?