Quote:
Originally Posted by biggs
Sorry to bust your idea but it won't work. How so you may ask? I will tell you. One may take the oxygen sensor and heat it up to say 900 degrees and in the air it will read very little voltage, take the same sensor and subject it to a rich hydrocarbon condition, it will read hi voltage.. thus when you pull the sensor out of the exaust stream you will cause the voltage reading to go down, thus making the computer think its running lean and then it will add more fuel.
Low voltage = lean, hi voltage = rich. Even an exaust leak before the oxygen sensor will make it run lower voltage thus burn more fuel..
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You are correct - heat up an O2 sensor in the air, and it will produce very little voltage (if any!). But why, might you ask? lol
The common O2 sensor produces current based upon chemical pressure.
The part of the sensor exposed to ambient air (outside O2) is compared to the exhaust stream O2 content with the zirconia ceramic and platinum sensor piece in between them (general design). Since there will always be more oxygen on the ambient side compared to the exhaust side of a running engine, this produces a varying current flow in one direction because the higher oxygen content on the ambient side tries to balance out with the exhaust side to reach equal parts oxygen, but ends up giving up electrons through the sensor/barrier.
Thus, when you hold a sensor up in the air, it has equal parts oxygen on both sides of the catalyst and won't produce voltage. When an O2 sensor is at operating temperature and there is
any difference in O2 content on either side of the sensor, such as when an engine is running and using up or combining oxygen into other chemicals through combustion, there will be an increasing voltage. As mentioned already - Higher voltage = Richer exhaust.
Or, if we can somehow reduce the amount of oxygen through some other means, on the exhaust side, then we could effectively fool the ECM into leaning out the mixture to try and bring the voltage down - voila the O2 spacer!
There is a thread where some of this was discussed in detail, including why there even is a swinging rich/lean cycle, here:
Hydrogen Boosters for Cars
My concerns regarding most of these modifications are to do with engine life and emissions. Regardless of if 'the Man' is sticking it to people with inefficient systems or not - emissions are drastically affected when fuel ratios are not around stoichiometric (14.7 lbs air to 1 lb of gas). Especially Nox are affected when going leaner, and it is Nox and Hydrocarbons (HC) in the presence of sunlight that produce photochemical smog! That is the
main purpose of this fuel ratio for gasoline - the focus on emissions while not killing off all power or mileage.
To me, the bottom line is that internal combustions engines are long obsolete. Even Hybrid systems are obsolete before we get them online, as there are many other alternative-energy technologies that, if governments and manufacturers truly desired change, would have all the effort and money put into their development and with low or zero emissions. The hybrid systems however, are at least a bridge to allow the big corporations and powerbrokers to maintain control over energy aka wealth, which is something they will never willingly give up. Thank god there is hope through the understanding of consciousness and creative living on this planet!
I've been out of the trade for awhile, so if I've made any mistakes in this explanation, any correction is appreciated!
Peace,
tephen