Oxygen Sensor Cleaning?

Can you clean the O2 sensor on the 1G Tacoma or do they have to be replaced? They run around $80 for the downstream sensor and more the upstream sensor. Looking at around $200 for both I was hoping to save some money by cleaning them if possible. I have about 122k miles and have been doing a few weekend maintenance tasks on the truck. Tranny/axle fluid change is in coming soon. Thanks for the input.

 

you can clean it

 

COOL! how? spit?

 

I cleaned mine with carb cleaner

 

neat, I'll do mine today. thanks

 

I'll give this a try. I haven't had a CEL yet but my mileage hasn't been as good as my 2000 V6 TRD. Maybe this will bump it back up a bit. Did you just spray it down real well or brush it with anything also?

 

Nope just hosed it down

All the dirt and shit will just run off...i'm sure you can gently wipe it though

 

How do you take that thang off? which one ? Bank 1 Sensor 1 or Bank 1 Sensor 2? please help !

 

There are two; one before the cat, one after. Each should be held on by two nuts. Be careful though. I busted the bolt on one on my old 2000 Tacoma and had to use a hose clamp to keep the sensor back in place.

 

Well I know this is a old thread, but Im removing my o2 sensor now to try to clean it after a guy at auto store said to try 108 octane and premium to see if that helps, he swore it did on his minivan Did not work really so I'm letting the sensor end soak in some MEK. Will let you guys and gals know how it worked tomorrow. I see alot of people on the internet talk about brushing them and such, from my understanding the actual sensor is protected by the outer shield. As why I chose MEK, well my dad thought it would be a good start, anything that dissolves carbon deposits seems like a good idea too.

 

The sensor...is actually a 'heater' that heats up.... cleaning may work for a period of time, the sensor can and will fail if the heater isn't working properly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxygen_sensor

It actually mentions this inside my old 96 tacoma owners manual.

 

Well the soak in MEK did not work....the truck ran fairly rough at low rpm, compared to perfect running before soak I'll just buy a new one found a extremely cheap online vendor