Are my O2 sensors toast?
 

Need to remove them and try to clean them however 2000 2.7 Boxster.
MAF is suspect, I have another on the way.

At idle the oxygen sensor voltage on both (pre-cat, no post cat on this model), drifts out of the 0.2 - 0.8 volt range.
Could one or both be faulty?

I'm trying to trace a rough idle and 'smell' or rich running.

Voltage snapshots over a few seconds.

Bank 1: 0.14, 1.00, 0.96, 0.15
Bank 2: 0.82, 0.08, 0.25, 0.82

Thanks.

The O2 sensors do just that, sense the amount of O2 in the exhaust gas relative to the amount of O2 in ambient air. Perfect combustion of a perfect mixture of air and fuel (around 14.7/1 air/fuel ratio) leaves behind only CO2 and water as products of combustion. All the oxygen gets consumed in the combustion and combines with all the carbons and hydrogens. If there is not enough fuel (lean mixture), then all the fuel gets burned leaving some oxygen left over. Conversely, if there is too much fuel (rich mixture), then all the oxygen gets burned leaving behind extra hydrocarbons (fuel). Now an oxygen sensor outputs a voltage between 0 and about 1 V depending on the difference between the amount of oxygen in the exhaust and the amount of oxygen in normal air. If there is a lot of oxygen in the exhaust (lean mixture condition), the sensor outputs close to 0 volts. Conversely, if there is no oxygen in the mixture (rich condition), then the output is close to 1 V. These O2 sensor voltages are read by the computer. This is the feedback loop that tells the computer how the engine is performing with regard to air/fuel mixture. It's impossible for the computer to hold the exact perfect air/fuel mixture constantly, so the way mixture control is designed is for the computer to continually adjust the mixture from very slightly rich to very slightly lean and back again using feedback from the pre-cat O2 sensors. This means that the pre-cat O2 sensor signal will oscillate back and forth from high to low to high to low voltage as the computer adjusts the mixture. In a normal running engine at idle the signal goes from low to high voltage and vice versa about every 1 second, with a transit time from low to high (or vice versa) being about 200-300 milliseconds. This transit time is important because as an O2 sensor ages, the transit time gets longer, and eventually it can get too long such that the computer will call it a malfunction and signal a check engine light and fault code for a slow responding O2 sensor. O2 sensors need to respond to mixture changes quickly so that the computer can keep up with the proper mixture adjustments. credit Brett

So what else is involved in this adjustment? MAF but also injectors and throttle body. Sounds like the sensors are doing what they are supposed to given the conditions. Maybe address the rest of the conditions. I assume no codes.

Really helpful, thanks. Really appreciated.
A very occasional misfire on cylinder 6, but no other fault codes. Throttle body is clean and the valve appears to be working as it should. MAF I cleaned and I think good, I also got a replacement to test and have the same readings. The idle does change if I disconnect this. Found and fixed a few vacuum leaks.

I did also wonder about the injectors myself. I am going to put some cleaner in and take it for a good drive next week.

I am getting some, I think excessive, white smoke after it has sat un-started for a few days.
My other 2004 2.7 does not do this. No really worrying noises, but I am wondering if I have a seal issue on one of more cylinders etc.

O2 sensor readings at idle are rather meaninless...
The car is not driven at idle.
Very very few engine running tests are done at idle.
Proper testing of O2 sensor operation is done at cruise rpm.
Go to youtube and look up "scanner Danner" find his O2 sensor video.
He shows the proper way to test O2 sensors.