I purchased an upstream Bosch universal Oxygen Sensor for my 97 Honda Civic HX. Little did I know this is one of the few models that requires a 5 wire O2 sensor...WTF ? A five wire sensor costs around $300 at the dealership and none of the online sites realize the HX uses a 5 wire Oxygen Sensor. Am I stuck purchasing a $300 5 wire sensor instead of a universal $80 sensor? Is there a way to wire a universal 4 wire into a 5 wire? any tips would be great

 

Not positive but I'm pretty sure that your car is using a NTK wide band sensor as opposed to most using a narrow band sensor. You should be able to find it for less than $300 at Autozone, Napa, Partsbin.com etc. Note that the sensor you buy might come in a Bosch or other labeled box but I think that they are all made by NTK.

If my assumption is true, you will NOT be able to use a 4 wire narrow band sensor.

Todd

 

The NTK wideband's production has been discontinued and it is only available from dealers. You're screwed.

 

I spoke to a dealership and apparently the 5 wire sensor is the standard HX upstream. The only vehicle in the US that uses that specific O2 sensor. I'm not even going to bother at this point, I can live with the CEL it's been on since 50,000 miles why bother now.

 

If im reading correctly, it's your upstream o2 that determines your A/F. You might want to not "let that go"

 

The worst damage you can do to your vehi is well running rich, which in turn is bad gas mileage which in the long run will cost you more than $300.00 in a years time unless you only drive 5 miles a day. Second is that burning rich and in a closed loop cycle you could cause a meltdown in your converter which in turn will clog up and cause very poor performance and baaaad gas mileage, so there you have it faqs on running with a bad O 2 sensor. Try to find a used one it may give you a few thousand miles before it goes bad too. Good luck with your adventure.