Question about O2 sensors

[Omarios]

Hello all,

 

I have a question about the frontal o2 sensors because the problem that I’m having right now is driving me insane. I have a ‘16 supercharged 5.3 Sierra RCSB.

 

I know that when installing long tubes that I have to modify the O2 sensors since the OEM ones aren’t long enough. I’ve already went through the turmoil before of having a rough ride/idle due to a faulty O2 sensor when I had Pacesetter LTs, and I’ve fixed it before by buying new ones, having an electrician helping me with elongating the sensors and then installing them at a local exhaust shop. 

 

Well, I’ve installed a blower recently and things were fine for a couple of days until about 1-2 days ago, when I noticed an annoyingly rough idle, and a choppy acceleration, and today it threw the check engine light on me. The guy who did the tune for me already emphasized on changing the oxygen sensors. My main problem is, where do I get those elongated sensors that would fit in once and for all?? I don’t want to fabricate something again for it to fail me after some time. 

 

Can I use regular OEM sensors on Kooks LTs, or do I have to buy a custom harness? I’ve tried searching on their website but found nothing in relation to oxygen sensors of Sierras/Silverados. I’ve read on other forums that people used zip ties in some way, but nobody explained exactly how. If someone can direct me where can I get something such as a harness that would fit in directly I’d be grateful.

[HeySkippyDog]

Let's clear the air first.

What do you mean by "longer sensors"? Is the body of the sensor longer OR are you trying to say that it requires longer wires to reach the sensor's location?

How did "the electrician" lengthen these wires? Were they routed out and away from the exhaust?

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[Omarios]

23 minutes ago, HeySkippyDog said:

Let's clear the air first.

What do you mean by "longer sensors"? Is the body of the sensor longer OR are you trying to say that it requires longer wires to reach the sensor's location?

How did "the electrician" lengthen these wires? Were they routed out and away from the exhaust?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-J727A using Tapatalk
 

Well from my understanding is: OEM sensor wires aren’t long enough to be used on long tubes, which would require modification to said wires to make them longer. What the electrician did was basically create longer wires by putting the original wires with other wires he had in his shop, and covering them with electrical tape and over that with wire loom. I admit that I should have made a distinction between “sensors” and “wires”, my bad. 

[davester]

What are the codes that were generated?

 

I don't understand this: "having an electrician helping me with elongating the sensors and then installing them at a local exhaust shop"  Did the electrician make an O2 extension cable, or just splice in some wire in the middle of the existing harness?

 

But it could be loose wires, or wires burnt on the exhaust,

[Omarios]

38 minutes ago, davester said:

What are the codes that were generated?

 

I don't understand this: "having an electrician helping me with elongating the sensors and then installing them at a local exhaust shop"  Did the electrician make an O2 extension cable, or just splice in some wire in the middle of the existing harness?

 

But it could be loose wires, or wires burnt on the exhaust,

I haven’t checked the codes yet, but I can’t remote start my truck and there is a steady check engine light. What the electrician did was make an extension cable by splicing the original wires with new, longer ones.

[davester]

Well, remote start is typically disabled with anything that turns on the cel.  Find out what the codes.

[HeySkippyDog]

Are they crimp splices or soldered splices?

Crimp splices work ok for a little bit, but will eventually succumb to vibration and water exposure. Soldered splices with heat shrink over them will maintain a good connection for a very long time.

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[davester]

1 minute ago, HeySkippyDog said:

Are they crimp splices or soldered splices?

Crimp splices work ok for a little bit, but will eventually succumb to vibration and water exposure. Soldered splices with heat shrink over them will maintain a good connection for a very long time.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-J727A using Tapatalk
 

Just from my personal experience, it's the opposite for me, at least for stranded wire.  Soldering a wire that could vibrate, the strands would break right where they come out of the solder, whereas crimping seems to hold with the vibration (I also cut off the regular crimp insulation and put on shrink wrap instead).

[Omarios]

Do Kooks long tubes require upstream/downstream oxygen sensor extensions? 

[JONBLARC7]

The headers I had on my last truck didn't need any extensions for the wires.  And I haven't heard of anybody else needing to extend the O2 sensors for headers.  My old truck had cheap OBX headers.  And I'm getting ready to get speed engineering headers for my cammed L86 and I haven't heard about anybody needing extensions.

[Maiden69]

Little late, but Texas Speed and Performance have an extension. I bought one a while back because I had the same issue with the sensor I had to stretch because of the long tubes. 

https://www.texas-speed.com/p-5878-24-2015-gm-o2-extension-drk-gray-truck-individual.aspx