How does the oxygen sensor in a car work?
Every new car, and most cars produced after 1980, have an oxygen sensor. The sensor is part of the emissions control system and feeds data to the engine management computer. The goal of the sensor is to help the engine run as efficiently as possible and also to produce as few emissions as possible. A gasoline engine burns gasoline in the presence of oxygen (see How Car Engines Work for complete details). It turns out that there is a particular ratio of air and gasoline that is “perfect,” and that ratio is 14.7:1 (different fuels have different perfect ratios — the ratio depends on the amount of hydrogen and carbon found in a given amount of fuel). If there is less air than this perfect ratio, then there will be fuel left over after combustion. This is called a rich
Every new car, and most cars produced after 1980, have an oxygen sensor. The sensor is part of the emissions control system and feeds data to the engine management computer. The goal of the sensor is to help the engine run as efficiently as possible and also to produce as few emissions as possible. Next Up • How Fuel Mapping Computers Work • How Fuel Injection Systems Work • TreeHugger.com: Top 5 Engine Technologies –> A gasoline engine burns gasoline in the presence of oxygen (see How Car Engines Work for complete details). It turns o
