How urgent is it to replace the oxygen sensor on a car when it causes the check engine light to come on?

Question

So our car's check engine light came on and the computer at our local autoparts store says the oxgen sensor may be bad. Is this something we should replace asap, or can we wait a week or so to do it?

Answer 1

Its going to mess with your air/fuel ratio so your mileage can drop quite a bit and it can mess up your cats. This won't happen over a few hundred miles though.

Answer 2

It depends, if its just the sensor on your catalytic converter (most likely it is), then you can wait for as long as you want. If its the 02 sensor that are before the catalytic converter, then change it whenever you can. Anytime your car has a check engine light, it goes into "limp" mode. It basically uses predetermined maps from the manufacturer where the ecu of the car does not use the 02 sensors to determine how much fuel is sprayed into the car. (02 sensors determine if your car is running "lean" or "rich." ie if its spraying enough fuel, or too much, etc)

Answer 3

What was the code? Was it a front (Bank I Sensor I ) or rear(Bank I Sensor 2) O2 sensor? If the front sensor, replace ASAP or the engine will run lean and cause damage. If it's the rear O2 sensor you can run the car without problems because that sensor only monitors the cat. converter to make sure it's working. You should have a mechanic scan the voltage of each sensor to determine whats going on.

Answer 4

Not urgent at all. Get it fixed within 1000 miles or so. I went 500 miles on my Lincoln and my mileage was only about .5 lower if that. No damage to the car either.

Answer 5

You can wait for a little while but you are burning more gas that you would if you changed the 02 sensor!

Answer 6

It is very important to help your car breathe and keep other things from breaking down.

Answer 7

You can wait a week or so!!