'02 Galant O2 sensor?

I'm not a "car guy." I change my own oil, radiator fluid, etc....but that's
about it. But I'm not a dummy either.

My "Service Engine Soon" light came on yesterday, so I took it to the
mechanic who says it's a bad O2 sensor. He wants $239 for the part and $45
for the labor.

My brother -- who *is* mechanically-enclined -- says that it's something I
can do myself. So I'd like to give it a try. In the big scheme of things,
how difficult a repair is changing the O2 sensor?

Also, the mechanic suggested that before changing the sensor, I might try
buying a can of "Berryman's B-12" and running it through a tank of gas and
see if that fixes the problem. My question is, if I do this and it fixes
the problem, will the "Service Engine Soon" light then go off? I would
think that the fault needs to be cleared, even if the problem is fixed.

Thanks for your help,

~d. jettster

I'd rather know what the code was before making a call, but changing the O2
is not hard. If you have a V6, you have two of them. One for each head.
Changing them is really pretty easy on jack stands. You just need a 5 buck
O2 sensor socket and a good breaker bar. For a V6, 200 for both sensors is
quite reasonable.

My problem with this whole thing is that I can't believe a 4 year old sensor
has gone bad...and it is actually throwing a code for it. The O2 has to be
really dead to throw a code. Go to Autozone and pull the code for
free...then report back.

--


------------------------
"Dexter Jettster" wrote in message

> I'm not a "car guy." I change my own oil, radiator fluid, etc....but
that's
> about it. But I'm not a dummy either.
>
> My "Service Engine Soon" light came on yesterday, so I took it to the
> mechanic who says it's a bad O2 sensor. He wants $239 for the part and
$45
> for the labor.
>
> My brother -- who *is* mechanically-enclined -- says that it's something I
> can do myself. So I'd like to give it a try. In the big scheme of
things,
> how difficult a repair is changing the O2 sensor?
>
> Also, the mechanic suggested that before changing the sensor, I might try
> buying a can of "Berryman's B-12" and running it through a tank of gas and
> see if that fixes the problem. My question is, if I do this and it fixes
> the problem, will the "Service Engine Soon" light then go off? I would
> think that the fault needs to be cleared, even if the problem is fixed.
>
> Thanks for your help,
>
> ~d. jettster
>
>