Short story: as the title says, the wiring on the engine side of my o2 sensor is broken off at the plug. I am looking for a way to fix this that hopefully won't throw a code. I tried hard wiring it with no success.

Long Story: A couple of week backs my CEL light popped on. A quick check confirmed this to be the o2 sensor (Bank 1 sensor 2) [p0038]. I went and picked up a new one, put it in and cleared the code. I started the car and the CEL popped on immediatly. Same thing, p0038. I got under the car and looked around then finally found the problem. Three of the 4 wires on the engine side of the o2 plug were corroded / broken off right at the plug. I had not noticed before do to the way I was looking at the plug (tucked up in kinda awkward).

Anyway, the only option I had to try was to hardwire the sensor to the wiring, since it was broken off and corroded anyway. I cleaned them up, soldered the wires together, wrapped them up with electrical tape and cleared the codes. Everything was fine for a day, then CEL popped on. Now I am getting P0137 (low voltage). I am pretty sure this is do to the fact that I hardwired the sensor on. I obviously had little choice though, and since the wires were already broken off, I was not out anything in trying it.

So now what should I do? Will crimping them instead of soldering them work better? Can I grab a engine side plug from a salvage yard and hardwire that in so I have something to plug into? I don't know a whole lot about the wiring aspect of this stuff, so I am at a stand still. I was told that if the wires are not at the exact factory length that it will screw up the voltage, in which case I have no idea what the factory wire length is...

Big problem is I need to get the car inspected (NY inspection & emission test) ASAP. It was due a month ago and I have been working on the car since then getting it ready. This is the only thing holding me back, and with the CEL on it will fail.

 

The circuit for the oxygen sensors is very sensitive because it operates at very low voltages and currents and any little change in the resistance of the wires can throw it off. Try soldering in a replacement connector carefully. I would try to lose as little of the original length of the wire from the harness as you can and add as little of the wire from the connector as you can work with for the soldering and taping of the connection. If that doesn't work, you may need to get a pro to re-wire it.