Possibility of damage from faulty O2 sensor?

[seanys]

Hi all,

My '04 started showing an O2 sensor warning on the way back during my last ride. Unfortunately, I don't have the resources to get it looked at at the moment but still need to be able to ride it.

Is there any chance of damaging the bike by riding it? Or, worse, having it stop and end up stranded?

 

[cjames431]

The O2 sensor adjusts the air/fuel mixture. If the O2sensor goes you will run rich meaning lower mpg but that is all.

 

[beemerphile]

I have no ST13 experience, but with most engines if the front sensor fails, the FI goes into open loop mode and runs a map that is richer than what the O2 sensor and closed loop would have been running. The long term risk is damage to the oxidation catalyst. It can even get hot enough from the extra fuel to melt the lattice and plug the exhaust. Again, general experience rather than ST13 specific.

 

[Al st1100]

In auto once the code is there it looks at stored blocks of same data , o2, map, throttle, temp, air temp and maf. the block that come closest to what ever sensors are reading it will make fuel adjustments to a similar stored block, That where the expression the car need to learn how you drive comes from. The danger come is when a sensor doesn't fail preset parameters and the computer can't make good decisions. there is most likely a fail safe mode that honda has so you can continue to ride safely

 

[wjbertrand]

If you end up needing a sensor I have two used ones from my ST1300 that were working fine when I removed them. your's for the cost of postage. The ST's onboard diagnostics aren't very sophisticated, in the case of the O2 sensors all they are monitoring is whether the heater circuit is complete or not. You can buy sensor delete plugs that have a small resistor in them and connect only across the heater circuit (the ST uses four lead heated sensors) and leaves the sensor signal terminals open. The delete plug is enough to prevent the error code setting. I rode many miles with the O2 sensors disconnected trying to eliminate them from my misfire problem and did not suffer any catalyst overheating or poor running. It didn't really seem to affect the mileage much either. My bet is that you have a failed heater element in one of the sensors.

 

[seanys]

I have two used ones from my ST1300 that were working fine when I removed them. your's for the cost of postage.

Thanks for the offer but I'm away from home so the issue is that I have neither tools nor a space to work on the bike at the moment.

Thanks to the others for your comments. Seems like I should be fine.

 

[seanys]

Well, there you go. 260km+ ride home and no sign of any warnings.

/shrug

 

[fnmag]

Well, there you go. 260km+ ride home and no sign of any warnings.

/shrug

Good on ya.
Looks like things are OK now.

 

[2turbos]

O2 fails toward rich, not lean. If you get a light the processor will set a fixed safe mixture.

 

[wjbertrand]

O2 fails toward rich, not lean. If you get a light the processor will set a fixed safe mixture.

True, the bike will just operate in open loop mode. Open loop is normal operation for several riding conditions such as cold running before fully warmed up, full throttle application and when running above about 50% of redline. When running in open loop mode the ECM is not using the O2 sensor information anyway.