Holy god, the VW O2s DO work! DIY instructions inside...
08-10-2003, 08:11 AM
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Holy god, the VW O2s DO work! DIY instructions inside...
Well, I told my mechanic to take his 4.7 hours of labor and $90 oil change and shove it. I got the 4 O2s for $21 each from the local VW dealership and put the car up on rhino ramps yesterday afternoon. Here's how I changed out the O2s: (VW Part # 06A-906-262-Q)
1) Removed the coolant reservoir, unplugged sensor from bottom and put reservoir to the front and side.
2) Removed all plastic engine covers
3) Removed airbox, MAF, and the tube that goes to the Y-pipe. This pretty much unclips and is easy. To get the tube off the y-pipe use a big wrench to compress the tabs of the spring ring and pull the pipe right off. The spring is HARD, so don't be afraid to put some elbow grease into it. The airbox comes off with little pop-off clips, very easy.
4) Unscrewed Y-pipe at the top (3 screws) and the side, down by the little rubber elbows (1 on each side). Have to use grippers to pinch the little wire-holder and pull it off the y-pipe where it's connected. Then the whole thing basically lifts stright up with a little wiggling on each side. Remember to unplug DVs!
About half an hour to do all of this, although I've done it a few times. Pretty easy stuff so far.
5) Now it's relatively easy. Airbox and reservoir are out of the way, y-pipe is gone too. Get a socket extension (long, try for 2 feet if possible) and an O2 sensor socket, make sure it fits over the VW sensors you got. Reach in and clip the cables on both O2 sensors, put the socket over them and unscrew...they pull right out.
6) The rears work the same, but I would not cut them...not yet atleast. Unscrew and pull out.
7) Now comes the fun part. We jacked the pins out of the harness with a safety pin and directly replaced the VW O2 harness with the Audi one for the primary O2s (up front), and they were a direct plug in, very easy.
8) For the rears, you need longer wires, so cut the wires on both sensors, intertwine, solder together, and don't forget to put heatshrink tubing over each wire. If water gets in there, it can corrode and increase resistance. I also put heatshrink over the whole bundle of 4 wires for safety. Those replace the same way they came out obviously. Be sure to keep the wires OFF the DPs if possible. I put mine on the other side of the heat shield.
The soldering and cutting and all that took about an hour for all 4 of the sensors, plugging them in only took about half an hour.
Now, reassemble the engine, and you're good to go. Keep in mind...you can't cross wires (doesn't matter if you switch the white wires, they're for the heaters, and there's only one of the other two colors...hard to confuse), the primaries have plugs on the correct side, and the secondaries plug in on the passenger side, but are color coded.
Overall, took me and a friend helping out about 4 hours total, with pizza break and plenty of screw-ups and backtracking. I could probably repeat this again in half that. Don't let some mechanic tell you it's really hard, you can do it yourself!
End result, they work fine, no codes in VAG, no more CEL. God bless VW parts.
1) Removed the coolant reservoir, unplugged sensor from bottom and put reservoir to the front and side.
2) Removed all plastic engine covers
3) Removed airbox, MAF, and the tube that goes to the Y-pipe. This pretty much unclips and is easy. To get the tube off the y-pipe use a big wrench to compress the tabs of the spring ring and pull the pipe right off. The spring is HARD, so don't be afraid to put some elbow grease into it. The airbox comes off with little pop-off clips, very easy.
4) Unscrewed Y-pipe at the top (3 screws) and the side, down by the little rubber elbows (1 on each side). Have to use grippers to pinch the little wire-holder and pull it off the y-pipe where it's connected. Then the whole thing basically lifts stright up with a little wiggling on each side. Remember to unplug DVs!
About half an hour to do all of this, although I've done it a few times. Pretty easy stuff so far.
5) Now it's relatively easy. Airbox and reservoir are out of the way, y-pipe is gone too. Get a socket extension (long, try for 2 feet if possible) and an O2 sensor socket, make sure it fits over the VW sensors you got. Reach in and clip the cables on both O2 sensors, put the socket over them and unscrew...they pull right out.
6) The rears work the same, but I would not cut them...not yet atleast. Unscrew and pull out.
7) Now comes the fun part. We jacked the pins out of the harness with a safety pin and directly replaced the VW O2 harness with the Audi one for the primary O2s (up front), and they were a direct plug in, very easy.
8) For the rears, you need longer wires, so cut the wires on both sensors, intertwine, solder together, and don't forget to put heatshrink tubing over each wire. If water gets in there, it can corrode and increase resistance. I also put heatshrink over the whole bundle of 4 wires for safety. Those replace the same way they came out obviously. Be sure to keep the wires OFF the DPs if possible. I put mine on the other side of the heat shield.
The soldering and cutting and all that took about an hour for all 4 of the sensors, plugging them in only took about half an hour.
Now, reassemble the engine, and you're good to go. Keep in mind...you can't cross wires (doesn't matter if you switch the white wires, they're for the heaters, and there's only one of the other two colors...hard to confuse), the primaries have plugs on the correct side, and the secondaries plug in on the passenger side, but are color coded.
Overall, took me and a friend helping out about 4 hours total, with pizza break and plenty of screw-ups and backtracking. I could probably repeat this again in half that. Don't let some mechanic tell you it's really hard, you can do it yourself!
End result, they work fine, no codes in VAG, no more CEL. God bless VW parts.
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