98 S70 Lambda sensor post crash...

Greetings from Australia

My Wife's S70 (118000 kilometres) was involved in a prang some two months
ago and the repairs are still not finalised. She got it back and found that
the Lambda sensor warning light was on, and the error codes were checked by
a firm not associated with the repair company.

My question is how sensitive are these sensors and do they tolerate being
fiddled with? The light was not on before the accident where the car
suffered left hand damage after a car failed to give way through a round
about collecting the car on the left hand passenger door back to the rear
quarter panel.

What could have caused the sensor to fail? Coincidence? Incompetence? The
accident?

Look forward to your thoughts and advice.

Cheers

Hamish

 

My Wife's S70 (118000 kilometres) was involved in a prang some two months

If the lambda signal is lit in the instrument panel it means that atleast
one error code is stored in the ECU memory.
The error code can be many things, one of the a faulty lambda sond, but
there are houndreds of other errors it can be.
When you readout the error codes you know what error you have, and if you
can get its number its easier to help.

Niels

 

Had it read.

Out of spec sensor, fuel pressure high something else. Had it reset but
comes back on.

Cheers

H

 

Had it read.

If the workshop can read the error codes they can fix the problem too.
It doesnt help to reset the errors if you dont fix the errors first.

Niels

 

I agree, but you are missing the point of my initial post.

Has anyone had one of these sensors "go bad" after a collision?

I wasn't sure if it happened at the repair shop (as my wife has had to take
the car back 4 times now to get things that were fixed, fixed). Can having
the lead off the sensor, or not following a set protocol for its removal
cause damage? Or, would have the initial accident (and subsequent and
violent rotation over median strips and gutters before coming to rest) have
some impact on the sensor? That is, how delicate are these sensors?

Cheers

Hamish

 

I agree, but you are missing the point of my initial post.

I havent seen anywhere that your error codes concern the lambda sonds.
If it should be a lambda sond the only thing that can be damaged in a crash
or when repairing a crashed car is the wiring, unless the sensor has been
removed and reinstalled in a new exhaust. The sensor is not that easy to
break. If it has damage that can be seen on it that could be a problem too.

Niels

 

I'm in agreement with resetting the code, and see if the problem returns
before doing any repair, assuming that the engine has no noticeable
running problems. You never know why a code is there, and it doesn't
cost anything to reset and wait. Obviously if the code comes right
back, then there's a problem that needs to be addressed.

--
Mike F.
Thornhill (near Toronto), Ont.

NOTE: new address!!
Replace tt with t (twice!) and remove parentheses to email me directly.
(But I check the newsgroup more often than this email address.)