Oxygen Sensor issue - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Lordblood · 03-13-2009, 04:25 PM

Seems like there is another issue now. The CEL is on, took it down to Auto Zone and got the code P1117, which is Oxygen Sensor Heating. Also got P0160, which is the O2 sensor circuit not active. Lastly I got P0455, which is O2 sensor circuit slow response (Bank 1 sensor 3).

Possible fixes? Is the O2 sensor a common problem because I remember reading about it on the internet somewhere before buying the car.

Viper5 · 03-13-2009, 05:47 PM

I just replaced my o2 sensors and from those codes you provided, I can almost certainly guarantee you have a bad sensor. I went to partstrain.com and got all 4 replaced with the USOS-4000 model. They were about 28 bucks each. O2 sensors will eventually die out. It's just something that needs to be replaced when they do. You can DIY real easy. Just use a 22mm open wrench to get them off. You can access any of them by just getting under the car (i.e. you don't need to take off any of the bottom covers). Also, you don't need to replace all of them, but I did just because they were so cheap.

Lordblood · 03-13-2009, 05:57 PM

Alright thanks, seems easy enough for me. I'll look for a DIY guide then and see how hard this would be.

Lil bastard · 03-13-2009, 08:24 PM

O² sensors are rated to last 100k mi. In fact, we've seen them fail in as little as 50k mi.

If you're in that range, swapping them now will payback in both performance and MPG.

Most Boxsters are currently sold in the 25k-35kmi range and 75k-100k mi. range, meaning that unless you're planning to keep the car, it's likely the last time you'll address this issue.

RandallNeighbour · 03-13-2009, 09:35 PM

I'm assuming you replaced all four sensors. Replacing just one or two will throw a CE because the new ones are quite sensitive and the old ones are not.

If you did replace all four, do remove and clean the MAF and clear the codes. Sometimes when a MAF is going bad or dirty, the computer throws a code for one of the O2 sensors.

Makes no logical sense whatsoever, but my mechanic showed me on his PST tool how a dead O2 sensor made the MAF look as if it were failing and the other way around as well.

He said, "Ihres Porsche computer ist verwirrt!"