3200 Lambda Guide

Thanks to Maranellohouse for allowing us to use this:

First job was to find out were the sensors are and ease of access. Both sensors are just ahead of the front boxes pointing up towards the bonnet so I'll be working from under the car. I had read somewere that for to do the drivers side the exhaust has to be dropped. I really don't want to do this so I've decided to do the drivers side first if this is going to be the hardest. first thing I did was remove the shield that protects part of the steering rack. Mine was held on by a 10mm bolt (you can see in the photo the ext bar goes through a ready made hole to get to the bolt) and an 8mm on the side.



Once the cover was removed I could see the sensor. Now I have to admit there isn't a lot of room to get at it and even with my small hands I could just about gain access to it. Sorry about the clarity about the photo by the way, I hadn't much room to take it.



A quick trip to my local Motor factors though proved very fruitfull. You can buy a tool specifically for the job, a 22mm Lambda sensor socket.



Probably the best £13 I've spent as I was able to fit it over the sensor and using an extension bar was able to get the sensor slackened off in less than a minute. However it's one thing getting it losened but it's another getting it out. To do this I went into the engine bay and looked down at it. You can see in the first photo looking down that there is a small nut and thread poking out from the back of the cylinder head. This restricts you from getting your hand down at the sensor.



It's a 10mm nut and then a 13mm double ended thread bolt. Take them off and you can get your hand down to screw the sensor off the rest of the way. Remember to disconnect the wire at the top first though as it will twist up.



Sensor out. It was off to the Motor factors and good news. As the sensor is a 4 wire one you can buy a universal sensor. PLEASE NOTE, SportsMaserati.com highly recommend the use of OEM Lambda as the aftermarket type specified below is well known to cause CEL.



All in all the drivers side to about 30 minutes to take out and another 10 minutes to put back in. The passenger side was very easy to do and took about 20 minutes all in. The photo below shows the passenger side with the sensor socket on it to give you some idea of the access to it.



Once I got everything fitted back up, not that there was much, I started the engine to see what the result would be. No check light and the engine is running smoother than it's been since I bought the car. It had been lifting and dropping the revs ever so slightly from cold but now that's all gone. Job well done and a pretty easy one at that. New brake pads is the next job and they should be here by Friday.

Yes, Conaero........you need to emphasis this sentence as the buyer of Stuarts 3200, was noted as having bother again shortly after purchase, whether this was due to the patent parts not being up to the job full stop or premature failure am not sure!

PLEASE NOTE, SportsMaserati.com highly recommend the use of OEM Lambda as the aftermarket type specified below is well known to cause CEL.

I've not seen much on Lamda failures, they are recommended to be changed every 4 years, don't think they were done on mine....anyone elses?

Cost of OEMs parts needed?


P

I've just taken delivery of OE lambda sensors. I sourced them from Andrew Page motor factors. Bosch part number 00258 003 819 (-760) The receipt said 'Lambda sensor Ferrari various'. The cost was £117 for the pair inclusive of VAT (£49 each plus VAT I think).

Now all I have to do is to try to fit them. The Maserati workshop manual says you must drop the front exhaust section from below the turbo's to the cat. I'll try the above method first and see how easy or hard it really is.

Well done Neil, keep us up to speed with the outcome. Do you have the special lambda socket?

Hi Matt,
Is this also in the running reports and technical fixes section? If not, can you stick it in there so I don't lose it!
Cheers mate,
C

Good idea.

Now moved to:

Running Reports & Technical Fixes

OK so I've now swapped mine. The passenger side was very easy from under the car (on a ramp), even though you cannot even see it from above. There is certainly no need to take the exhaust off for that one!

The drivers side would have been very easy from above, if only it wasn't so tight. I used a deep lambda sonsor removing socket from above, but due to the tightness of it, the socket 'sprung' open and kept jumping. I then tried a shallow lambda sensor removing socket from below (following the ideas shown above). Still no joy, it would not budge. So I had a choice, take off the exhaust so that I could get a decent ring spanner on it or get out the gas gear.

I used the gas gear (well my friend did, whilst I held the socket up out of the way and checked that we didn't set fire to the car!) to heat the exhaust red hot just below the sensor, it cracked off instantly and was then easy to change once it had cooled off. I removed it from above, without removing the little nut as the above suggested. Replacement was simple and once cracked off it took less than 10 mins to swap.

Just for the ignorant amongst us (ie: me), what are the symtoms of knackered lambda sensors? How does one know when they need changing?

They do recommend changing before any symptoms appear.....I believe its every 4 yrs?!

Secondly, they are also sometimes attributed to being partly the cause of early catalyst failure!


P

PS This is on the 4200s.....dunno about the 3200s!

Chris, Check Engine Light (CEL) is the indicator when they are shot. You can then get an SD2/3 on it to find which one is broke, but its best not to bother and just replace the pair, it makes a big difference to the running of the car.

cowsurgeon said:

Just for the ignorant amongst us (ie: me), what are the symtoms of knackered lambda sensors? How does one know when they need changing?

Click to expand...

http://www.lambdasensor.com/main/mtypes.htm

Hope this helps Chris

regards loz

great, thanks Loz - just what I was after

cowsurgeon said:

How does one know when they need changing?

Click to expand...

Bosch say that they need replacing after 60K miles, and I've found that to be an accurate estimate on Alfa Romeos who also use the same type of sensor. On Maseratis, the more adverse environment means that they can fail as early as 40K miles. They're not lifed on duration, just miles.

When new, they output a signal at about 4Hz. As they age, they get slower, and slower, and slower to react. By the time the ECU notices that they've worn out they will have dropped to about 0.25Hz. However, often by then the heater element will have failed causing cold running issues that may not be picked up by diagnostics.

Mike.

Hi Mike,

Many thanks for the feedback and expert opinion, it all makes sense and further imbues us with additional knowledge and confidence when these things give problems,


P

Hi,

thank you for a great guide!

My car need two new sensors. Im on a tight budget so im going for the universal option. Where can i buy the sensors online?

CarlH, it was noted before that another 3200 owner fitted universal sensors, and whilst they worked for a while, they then had to be replaced with OEMs due to regular error lights coming on, so best to stick with OEMs.

P

Parisien said:

CarlH, it was noted before that another 3200 owner fitted universal sensors, and whilst they worked for a while, they then had to be replaced with OEMs due to regular error lights coming on, so best to stick with OEMs.

P

Click to expand...

Ok, thanks for your reply. Where is the best/cheapest place to buy the sensors from?

Does the 3200 share sensors with some other cars?

Have a read from post 170 onwards....take your time......might need to read it several times......plus maybe do a search for lambda......

http://www.sportsmaserati.co.uk/showthread.php/3035-3200-4200-Brake-Discs-a-possible-solution/page17


P

For anyone doing this, I replaced my drivers side sensor. It was awkward but using a lambda socket and 3 x 8" extensions with a knuckle joint I was able to unscrew from above and replace. Was thinking I'd need to drop the exhaust but thankfully it's possible to do in situ! The route to run the socket through was down the back of the cylinder head (had to feed it up from the bottom of the car as the socket wouldn't fit through the gap)

CarlH said:

Ok, thanks for your reply. Where is the best/cheapest place to buy the sensors from?

Does the 3200 share sensors with some other cars?

Click to expand...

Here you go then,the Bosch part # 0258003819..... I bought mine (2 0ff) from HGL Sales LTD for £135 all in

Although my car ran ok,the sensor's were 12 years old, there average design life is around 3 or 4 year's.... Wow what a differance in engine performance!

Dave