P0132 fix...may save you $

ajr2820 · Post by **ajr2820** » 02 Jun 2012, 10:44

My 99 V70XC was giving a P0132 code which relates to the front oxygen sensor. It was reading near static at 0.45. This can mean that the sensor is bad or it is sooted up. In order to see if it was indeed bad, I created a lean condition in order to increase the temperature of the sensor by disconnecting the brake booster vacuum line. I ran it this way for @ 2 minutes.This created a lean condition which evidently burned the deposits off of the sensor. It worked! All conditions read normal now. This was done without removing the sensor!
In order to get the readings I used my scanner and could see that during the procedure that the readings progressively started fluctuating between 0.10 and 0.90 as they should, finally reaching this point after 2 minutes. i then cleared the code, took it for a drive, and no more faults!

Post by **matthew1** » 02 Jun 2012, 11:44

Interesting, thanks for sharing. I've read of owners resurrecting O2 sensors by removing the sensor and heating the sensor tip for a minute with a torch. Looks like you achieved the same result without removal.

mrwillie · Post by **mrwillie** » 05 Sep 2012, 16:35

Did u just let it idle or did you have to raise rpms?

ajr2820 · Post by **ajr2820** » 20 Sep 2012, 07:43

Just let it idle.

hanseich · Post by **hanseich** » 20 Sep 2012, 11:18

I guess I should have tried this trick before ordering two new sensors. I was not willing to loose the sensor and have the engine run rich, and as a result of that, burn out my cat converter, which would be a lot more expensive than changing the sensors.

Has anyone here ever lost a cat to the engine running rich?

Post by **matthew1** » 20 Sep 2012, 14:03

I don't remember any posts here stating such, but I'm sure it's happened. FWIW, I ran my 850 rich for 1000+ miles on a roadtrip* and the cat is fine. Just passed emissions easily.

* no code reader for the first leg; then couldn't find what was causing the P0172 problem until I got home; this was about 5 years ago

mrwillie · Post by **mrwillie** » 20 Sep 2012, 14:11

Is there a trick to removing the hose from the brake booster? I tried to pull it, but the white circular thing that it was attached to started moving instead. I didnt try much after that.

Post by **cmblackburn** » 20 Sep 2012, 15:00

I agree, I feel like that would damage the cat....

hanseich · Post by **hanseich** » 29 Sep 2012, 09:14

I recently added two new sensors to my car, hoping to fix a P0132 error code. (it fixed P0137), but after driving the car for about 1 hour or so, it always come back. A mechanic that I spoke to yesterday says that it is the heater of the sensor that has issues. Is that so? I also noticed that I have valve seal leaks, could this potentially trip the error code?

mrwillie · Post by **mrwillie** » 17 Oct 2012, 10:22

Not to bring up an old thread, but I looked again this weekend and cant get the hose off of the brake booster.

I'm assuming that you mean the larger hose that connects to the white circular disk? I can get the disk to rotate, but the hose wont budge at all. Should it be ok if I just pull the whole disk out?