How to Replace Upstream O2 Sensor 2003-11 Honda Element

Hi, I'm Mike from 1A Auto. We've been selling auto parts for over 30 years.

Hey, everyone. Sue here from 1A Auto, and today on our 06 Honda Element, we're going to be installing an upstream 02 sensor, aka air fuel ratio. If you need any parts for your car, click on the link below, and head on over to 1aauto.com.

I'm going to be using a two post lift, at home you can use a jack and jack stands.

It's located in the front of the exhaust pipe. You've got two, this is the upstream, and that's the downstream. On this particular model, this is also called an air fuel ratio sensor. So this is the one we're going to be replacing today.

So you're going to have two distinctive plugs. One's a gray plug and one is a blue plug, and you can follow the wire. The blue plug goes with the blue casing in this manner, so that is the downstream. We have a gray-black casing, and that goes to the gray plug.

So first thing we're going to do is disconnect the electrical connector, and that's by pushing on this tab and then pulling it out. And then I'm going to dismount by this little rubber bushing that keeps the wire from falling around. Get that out of the way.

And now on the back here, there's a tab, this metal bracket has a metal tab holding it in place. So there's another little plastic tab. I'm going to use a small screwdriver, pull that out of the way, and see if I can get it off the rusty bracket.

Sometimes these can be really frozen on there because of the rust. Let's see what we can get. It has to come undone, so let's take the bracket down, see if we can work on it better. 10 millimeter socket. And now we get that bracket down and see what we're dealing with right here. I'm trying to get this clip off of this metal bracket. It's just rust, that's what's causing it.

See if we can get any... and that'll help it. I'm going to get a pair of pliers, so I can grab it and pull it down.

And so I'm going to keep the screwdriver in there and see if I can hold that tab down. Meanwhile, I'm going to grab and work it back and forth. See if we can break it. There we go. Oh, finally, there ya go.

Now I gotta just remount this and get this back up out of the way. Just spray a little bit of spray in there. Put the bracket back together. We lucked out that this bolt didn't snap, and that the bracket didn't snap. I still have a good place to mount the new clip, so that's the connector.

So now with an O2 sensor socket, it's a 22 millimeter, but it's a special design socket. I'm gonna break the O2 sensor free. So the cutout is there for a reason, so it slides on like that. Now I found that a good, quick jolt is the way to do it.

If yours is really frozen on there, another way to do it is to actually run the car. Get that exhaust hot so that way you actually heat that up the threads. You are replacing the sensor, so you can spray a little bit of rust penetrating spray in there--just a tad. You don't want any going inside the convertor, but you can let it soak into the threads.

I do not recommend using an air chisel, because you do have a downstream O2 sensor. If you are vibrating this exhaust, you can damage the internal parts of that. So that's always the last extreme. And you'll surprisingly get a second code, and it will be downstream O2 sensor. So there's our air fuel ratio sensor.

So on the thread part, some of them come with it and some don't. This one came with it. It comes with the plastic cover that goes over the threads, and they pre-coat the threads with that anti-seize. So hopefully the next time it has to come out, it'll come right out with no problem. I hand start it, and then I'll take my socket. It's bottomed out right there, and I'm going to give it a good turn. There we go.

Now, simply just reverse procedure here. Get that bushing. It's gonna go right in that bracket. And then we have the mounting part of this, which is going to go on that metal bracket that I was having trouble with.

There we go. Now we're connected. Let's make sure it clicks. There we go, good to go. Clear the code, and take it for a ride.

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