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hey everyone, I’ve been trying with fail twice now to remove a upstream passenger side bank 1 sensor 1 oxygen sensor. It’s almost impossible to see from the engine bay and you can basically access it under the vehicle or taking the passenger side tire off and bending or removing the inner wheel well liner. The standard deep o2 socket, I have always used, doesn’t even have enough clearance to fit over the 02, because I’m hitting the insulation around the truck. I bought one of those offset o2 sockets that’s about the size of a normal socket. I’ve tried on blaster, extensions, universal joints, open end wrenches and I can’t get the o2 to turn at all. I would heat it with s torch, but because of how tight the space is I don’t want to damage anything else. Has anyone successfully removed one of these? Any help would be so greatly appreciated. Thank you. Here are a couple pictures to show the space.
I have the o2 socket and a universal joint and extensions on the last pic
I've never had any luck with those type of sockets, usually a 7/8 or 22mm wrench works best from underneath. I cut the wires off and slide the closed end of the wrench over the sensor since it won't fit over the plug connector and then either use a hammer or another wrench as an extension to get the leverage necessary to break it loose.
So everyone what I ended up doing I will list below in a few steps. First I couldn't get anything to fit as I stated above. Oxygen sensor deep socket wouldn't even fit on, because of the limited space. Small normal size offset oxygen sensor socket wouldn't get the leverage because of the angle and kept slipping off. What I finally did was I cut a 7/8 combination wrench/ box open end wrench in half.
1. jack up truck and put jack stand under passenger side frame.
2. remove passenger side tire.
3. remove wheel well liner or as i did bend it just enough and ran a screw through it to the other part of the wheel well to bend it enough out of the way. It looked like a huge pain in the *** to remove the liner. It went back perfectly into place.
4. spray down the oxygen sensor real good with a penetrating oil. I used CRC freeze off and it worked wonders. I usually use pb blaster but the CRC freeze off works great on stuff that wont budge.
5. Use a stubby combination wrench or cut a normal one in half and put the box end on the sensor. At this point all i did was push into it a little and it turned right out without a problem.
6. put new oxygen sensor in and plug into harness.
7. Unscrew wheel well liner and push back into place or reinstall wheel well liner.
8. Put tire back on and remove jack and jack stand.
Good timing on this thread. A buddy of mine and I struggled with replacing this sensor the other day. We didn't get it off. I have the same offset socket you have, and it is actually too loose and tries to round it off. I am spraying it down again tomorrow with PB blaster, and got a can of Freeze Off. We are attacking it again next weekend. Thanks for the detailed instructions.
Make sure u cut the 02 off as close as you can and slip the closed end of the wrench over it and give it a push. Should come right off. That freeze off is awesome
Resurrecting an old thread to say thanks for your direction. I was approaching despair by attempting to remove Bank 1 Sensor 1 from below. Granted, you have to unplug the harness from below but the direct route to the sensor is through the fender well. Your post gave me the courage to pull the inner fender and there the sensor was.
Instead of using a shortened wrench, I was able to use the slot-side, reinforced stubby six-point socket with just a breaker bar. Once the sensor moved, I was able to loosen it by hand. The new sensor was just as easy to reinstall with only a short arc to crush the washer and seal it up.
How to remove an upstream oxygen sensor
