Long tubes and 02 sensors question

[Kenneth]

Ever since I had the Dynatech long tubes installed on my car I've been having a little annoying problem with my front 02 sensors.
Car is a 2011 (wideband 02's)

According tommy Aeroforce gauges,
In the morning the sensors will read correct for the first part of the drive if I just take it easy when pulling out of the street under light throttle. If I go more than half throttle I lose signal on one of the sensors, mostly Bank 1.
After about half hour driving they will work fine even if I go WOT.

If I make a stop for gas, as soon as I get back on the highway Bank 1 will lose signal, usually have to pull over and stop the car and re-start it and it will start reading again.
If I don't re-set it after about 30 min. I'll get a check engine light (don't remember exactly the code number) shows negative current for the sensor.

What I tried to remedy this:
Changed both front sensors with another set of OEM sensors.
Changed data speed on both gauges.

Not sure what else to do.

Side note: On the Dynatech long tubes, the sensors are in the 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock position, would I need to have more bungs welded in to fix this problem.

 

[Van@RevanRacing]

Are you using extensions for the O2 sensors? If so you need to ditch them.

Disconnect all front and rear O2 sensors. Follow the wiring harness down from the engine bay. It comes down on the passenger side and flops over the top of the bell housing. There are pins holding the harness on the drivers side of the trans. Pull the harness free and loosen it up completely. Pull on the harness slightly from below once the wiring harness is flipped over to the passenger side to relieve slack.

At this point you should be able to plug your O2 sensors in to the collector without an extension.

Your front O2's should trim just fine.

Van

 

[Kenneth]

Forgot to mention Van, NO extensions are being used.
I had the shop re-route the wire harness as I seen it in one of your threads to avoid using the extensions.

 

[VNMOUS1]

Are you getting slow response codes? (not unusual for long tubes)

Even when it's accounted for in the tune, over time it will take longer for them to come to temp. Too long and you throw a code.

If you do its an easy fix.

 

[Van@RevanRacing]

Ok. Good. Well, the only other thing I can see is if you're data logging the car and capturing trims from Bank 1 and Bank 2 if it is only occurring on one bank swap the O2 sensors and see if it moves from bank to bank in the data log after the swap.

As you probably noticed the OEM design of these commanded wide band A/F front O2 sensors orients the tip of the O2 sensor downward. Why? So the O2 sensor can't collect moisture and fail..........hmmmmm

Your current O2's are positioned at 3 and 9 on the clock which doesn't allows condensation and moisture to drain. I worked with Nick at American Racing and we had the O2 sensors changed and oriented so there is a slight down angle to prevent moisture build up on the O2 sensors. We had a higher failure rate of O2 sensors due to E-85 but it happens with fossil fuel cars and the winterized blend combined with ethanol.

Here is what I have found. The NTK Sensors which are OEM replacement have had great longevity over the OEM sensor in E-85 applications where the bungs are positioned at 3 and 9. The same should hold true for a car running 91-93 octane.

Van

 

[Kenneth]

OK,
Finally had a chance to play around with the car yesterday, raised it up on the ramps to change the fuel filter. while the car was up, I looked aroundjust to see if anything didn't look right with the wire harness or sensors.
Wire harness looks fine, upon inspecting the sensor positions it almost looks like the driver side may be pointing slightly downward, to me looks like the sensor may be holding moisture causing the problem.

Code it's throwing is P2254

 

[RBB]

I'm having the same issue after a header install 3 weeks ago. I put a new set of OEMs in, which seemed to fix the problem. After about a week and a half, though, I'm back to square one. My symptoms are exactly the same as Kenneth's. If I start the car up and take it easy everything is fine, but if I go more than half throttle one or both banks will stop reading and may or may not recover. If the car has been at operating temp for 10 minutes or so everything is fine, but I can't just jump in it and give it a lot of throttle even if the engine is warm enough to do so.

Guess I will try some of the NGK sensors, and if that doesn't solve the issue the long tubes are coming back off the car. I could handle replacing the sensors every 6 months to 1 year, but every month is just ridiculous.