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Winter driving puts all kind of pressures and pains on a car. Vehicles are susceptible to anything from salt corrosion to cracking hoses during the cold months. Once the weather warms up, giving your car a good measure of care is a must. If you find that your car is having a tough time shaking the winter blues, it is possible that you may be dealing with a faulty oxygen sensor (Commonly known as an O2 sensor). Based on a study conducted by CarMD, the most common problem of vehicles coming out of the winter months were faulty O2 sensors. With that kind of finding, it’s definitely worth looking into how to diagnose a faulty O2 sensor.
Symptoms of a faulty O2 sensor:
1) Poor handling
2) Loss of power
3) Rough acceleration
4) Loss in gas mileage
With the high price of gas nowadays, a loss in gas mileage is especially disconcerting. The good news is that by replacing your O2 sensor, your gas mileage could potentially be instantly stabilized. What the O2 sensor does is it works with your engine to determine if it is running balanced. When the O2 sensor fails, the engine runs unbalanced and will typically operate too rich or too lean which results in the fluctuation of your gas mpg. Determining if the O2 sensor is indeed bad requires special equipment. So if you have your suspicions, take your car into the mechanic to get the official diagnosis. If it turns out that your O2 sensor is kaput, get it fixed and enjoy the smooth ride for the spring and summer months! For a more thorough list of things to consider when preparing your car for spring, click here!
