Most vehicles nowadays include an oxygen sensor. This is a part of the emission system of your vehicle which is responsible mainly in feeding data to the engine management computer. The main goal of this component is to help the engine have efficient performance and make the vehicle produce as few car emissions as possible.

In order for the engine to have efficient performance, the oxygen sensor is used to detect lean and rich mixtures. This is positioned in the exhaust pipe and includes a mechanism which involves a chemical reaction wherein voltage is generated. The engine management computer then looks at this voltage in order to determine if the mixture is too lean or too rich. Once determined, the computer adjusts the fuel that enters the engine accordingly.

Basically, in order for a gasoline engine to burn gasoline, it needs oxygen. To ensure engine efficiency, a 14.7:1 ratio of air and gasoline, which is considered perfect, should be achieved. It is considered a rich mixture if there is less air than the perfect ratio and so there will be fuel left for combustion. This is not good since the unburned fuel creates pollution. Lean mixture, on the other hand, is a mixture with more air than the perfect ratio. Since there is an excess in oxygen, more nitrogen-oxide pollutants can be produced, thus this can lead to ineffective engine performance.

The function of the oxygen sensor is vital to the overall operation of your vehicle. Detecting the air and fuel ratio is necessary because too rich and too lean mixtures can cause poor engine performance and even engine damage.

When the oxygen sensor fails to function properly, the engine management computer can no longer sense the air and fuel ratio needed by the engine, so the least that it can do is to guess the ratio. So, without you noticing it, your car is starting to perform poorly and use more fuel than what your vehicle just needs.

i-Oxygen.com Oxygen provides detailed information on Oxygen, Oxygen Sensors, Oxygen Bars, Oxygen Masks and more. Oxygen is affiliated with z-Minerals.com Mineral Make Up.