Change For Dollars

Don’t Replace Your O2 Sensor, Not Yet

When I hear any noise coming from my baby, or when I see any lights pop up on the dashboard, I freak out.  My baby is a 1999, over 130,000 mile old, but very reliable (THANK YOU LORD!!!) Toyota Corolla that I intend to gleefully drive until he absolutely cannot be driven any longer.  Even though I know my baby is a very good car I still panic something awful when he makes noises or when he lights up.  After all, he is old and he is aging.

In the past 5 years the oxygen sensor has triggered the engine light in my baby, twice.  However, in both instances I did not have the oxygen sensor (and catalytic converter) replaced.  Instead, I solved the problem myself in less than 15 minutes and without causing any (present or future) damage whatsoever to my baby.  Away went the annoying engine light from my dashboard and in my pockets remained money that most people would have spent on an unnecessary replacement had they been in my situation. 

Do you want to know how to avoid spending over $200 on an oxygen sensor (and catalytic converter) replacement!?  I’ll happily tell you!

You ready? 

Here’s how:

TAKE CARE OF YOUR VEHICLE!!!!!! 

In addition to getting regular, preventive maintenance service, like oil changes, USE PREMIUM GASOLINE IN YOUR VEHICLE!!!  DO NOT SKIMP AND GET THE CHEAP, REGULAR GAS!!!

Is that all!! you may be asking.  I thought this blog was about saving money, you could be complaining. 

Just hold on!  Wait a minute before you click to the next website.

Yes, this blog is about saving money.  And YES, avoiding or safely delaying an over $200 expense on a new oxygen sensor is as simple as using top grade gasoline AND a gas/engine cleaning agent!  Using both is how I solved my O2 Sensor problem not once, but twice, and I’m far from being a mechanic.  However, I’m far from being a fool too.  So whatever I lack in knowledge I more than make up for in common sense.

Once I found out from my original mechanic (who’s since relocated to another state) that a working O2 Sensor was needed for passing the emission test and that not immediately replacing it wouldn’t cause any damage to my baby, I didn’t rush to replace it.  That was in the summer of 2004.  I wasn’t due for an emission test until January of 2005.

What neither my original mechanic nor my present mechanic voluntarily informed me of, or remembered to inform me of, is that using better gas and an engine treatment would tremendously help in this matter.  Thus, common sense had to rescue me.

Shortly after the engine light went off the first time, and after I’d taken my car to the mechanic, I won a $50 Shell gas card from a local talk radio station.  My “first mind,” as my grandmother would say, told me to start using Shell V-Power since it was supposed to help clean the engine (and my problem, as I understood it at the time, was engine related). 

I did.  I stopped using regular grade gas.  I started using Shell V-Power.

Then the “first mind” or common sense told me to purchase one of the gas cleansers I’d seen in the same Dollar Store where I purchase my oil.  I did. 

The results?  The light on my dashboard went away in a few days. 

I continued using Shell V-Power until recently.  I stopped using the gas cleanser not too long after the engine light went away.  That was a mistake.

About 3 months ago (in the spring of 2009) the alarming engine light popped up again.  Once I found out the O2 Sensor was the cause I thanked my mechanic for his diagnosis, told him I’d be in contact, and went to the nearest gas station after purchasing a gas treatment from the nearest Dollar Store. 

Since Chevron boasts in their commercials about the superior quality of their gas I thought I’d give it a try.  I passed the familiar Shell station that I’d patronized for years, pulled up into a Chevron station, and fed my baby a full tank of Chevron Supreme with Techron followed by the gas treatment I’d purchased from the Dollar Store. 

Before my fuel gauge could even reach the halfway mark the engine light went away.  Suffice to say I will continue using Chevron Supreme with Techron, along with the less than $2 a bottle American XT fuel and carburetor cleanser, with every fill up.

When I reported the results to my ASE certified, super mechanic of integrity and scruples, whom I’ve fondly referred to from second one of our meeting as “The Great One,” he said when we use better gas and a gas treatment it cleans the O2 Sensor, which is plugged into the exhaust pipe.  Once the O2 Sensor is clean it resets the engine, causing it to burn less gas and pick up in power or perform better.  This better performance, stated Mr. J.D., we will definitely feel from our car. 

The cleansing also increases the life span of the O2 Sensor, which he said could last up to 15 years with proper treatment, by 80%.  Of course, eventually the O2 Sensor will have to be replaced.  Meanwhile, however, I’m not causing any harm whatsoever to my baby by delaying this replacement through the use of Chevron Supreme with Techron and a less than $2 a bottle gas and engine treatment.

How’s THAT for saving money!!!

(SAVE even more money by taking your baby to “The Great One” or Mr. J.D. and his son, J.D. Jr., of J.D.’s Automotive Care in Decatur, GA.)

Here’s to your Change for Dollars!

(Thank you for your valuable time.  I hope this writing has helped you in some way.  If so, please help others by forwarding them this website address.  For convenience in forwarding this website address to others use the “share this” button (the little green boomer rang looking icon) on the menu to your right.  Also, remember to visit my holistically encouraging blog at: http://GiftsofEncouragement.info, my business and life purpose network at http://MyBusinessMyPurpose.net, and my social networks at http://NothingBetterThanLove.net and http://AllBBall.net  Follow on Twitter: http://twitter.com/4Love4Money  Thank you for your support!)

© 2009 This article is copyrighted.  Please do not reproduce this article in any way or in any form without obtaining the written permission of Tair Ta’ir, H.H.B.M., and BE! of the 144,000 Publishing.

Tags: American XT fuel and carburetor cleanser, Chevron Supreme with Techron, engine treatment, gas treatment, J.D. Automotive Care, O2 Sensor, oxygen sensor, saving money