Help!

I have 97 F150 with 4.2L V6. 280,000 miles and the exhaust sux. What is cheapest way to fix it? The (4) cats are shot. I expect the O2's are gone also. Is there a way to bypass them, or something creative to help with performance (aside from replacing the engine..haha). I wanna stay cheap. Thanks

 

The front sensors are required by your ECU so that it can set the correct air/fuel ratio. Your engine will run poorly without these sensors.

The rear sensors are just there to tell the ECU that you have cats installed. A dummy sensor can be used to trick your ECU if you don't run cats.

But if you replace the 4 bad cats cats with 2 high-flows (they are cheap on E-Bay), then just replace the rear sensors also, they cost about the same as the sensor eliminators/dummy sensors.

 

thanks for the advice! I had heard about people bypassing the cats, but was unaware as to how this worked. What you said makes sense. Do you suggestion for brand of cat/semsors?

 

I've been told to stick with Bosch sensors. I dunno - they all may be the same for all I know.

I did get Bosch ones from these guys:
www.oxygensensorwholesale.com

Something like $45/each. Replace your front two if neeeded, don't do the rears unless they are dead and you get a light.

The front ones need to be good/accurate so your engine runs right. The rears don't really need to be perfect, so long as the voltage they output tells the computer that you've got cats present.

So if you are sure the front ones are bad, replace them, then see if you get a check engine light. If you do get a a light, then you may have to replace the rears also.

 

Thanks Jordan,

The link is helpful. I will be getting 2 sensors.