What Did You Do To Your Car Today?

[MurdoK]

Dont they use the same bosch sensor? In the market soon for a wideband so good to hear your opinions

[El Andrew]

They do. Some people think that due to the way the Innovate controls the heating it kills sensors but I find that hard to believe, especially in such a short timeframe.

But my sensor died so I played it safe and tried a different one!

[Puffwagon]

I have an innovate and the sensor has lasted a few years on my falcon so far. It has mostly been on 98 but I ran e85 for a few months and it was fine. I did buy a new sensor when I fitted it to my falcon.

 

I've had the unit for about 7 years or so with only one sensor failing and that was because an injector seal on a different model car leaked and flooded the cylinder and consequentially farked the o2 sensor. There was e85 coming out of the exhaust pipe and leaving a trail down the road.

 

The gauge face has cracked in the sun over the last couple of years but with 70c+ temps on hot days with the windows up you get that. I've also had gauge pods melt too so I guess sh*t happens?

 

It is recommended to start your car straight away otherwise the sensor will be hot and can get shocked from the initial cold start. Maybe this is where the issue lies?

[MurdoK]

@Ralph Wiggum has mentioned to me in the past that the new bosch sensors dont seem to last nearly as long as the old type and he has seen sensors only lasting 6 months

[Puffwagon]

Maybe they don't. I couldn't really say.

 

I'm pretty sure my innovate uses the 4.2 as it is older.

 

I have a techedge with the 4.9 in a non turbo car running 98 and it has lasted for several years now. The car doesn't get driven often and has probably only done 5000km in that time. Before that it was in a non turbo falcon for roughly 10,000km that ran 98 and e85 once or twice. 

 

Apart from that I haven't used any other wb controllers or seen any other failures. 

 

There are probably more failures in drifting/racing where engines are getting a lot hotter and are running richer more often.

[eff xr6t]

The innovate controls are well known for causing sensor issues my mates car has killed 2 sensors in 2 years with only being driven ~1000km I thought it was because 2step launch control and being so close to the turbo outlet that it was the reason for the failures but we swapped to a haltech WB controller and has had the same sensor for years now even with heaps of short run times moving it in and out of the shed on e85 so heaps of moisture in the exhaust.

 

Then there's my car had the same innovate mtx-l for 4years on e85 huge amounts of 2step use and plenty of time been parked on the limiter drifting aswell as daily street driving and the original sensor hasn't had an issue. People have had issue with them when on methanol burning out the heater with all the moisture getting into it but even when I ran it on meth it never died. I must have one of the lucky ones haha. It did go to an error fault a couple of months ago which I thought it's days were over finally but got back in the car an hour later and error was gone and working mint again.

 

If I was buying again I don't think I would go another innovate though.

[Puffwagon]

3 minutes ago, eff xr6t said:

I must have one of the lucky ones haha. It did go to an error fault a couple of months ago which I thought it's days were over finally but got back in the car an hour later and error was gone and working mint again.

 

I guess I am too.

 

I had some sort of issue when I replaced the sensor and installed it in my falcon. I'm pretty sure I had wrecked the free air calibration switch leaving it stuck on. After I removed it and calibrated it by touching wires together, it's been fine since.

 

Now that I think about it, it is overdue for calibration.

[eff xr6t]

Think I've free air calibrated mine three times in the time I've had it. And it was only because I forgot to plug the sensor back in after putting the dump pipe back in the car and I turned the key before realising... should probably do it again and see if it's strayed

 

Mention the innovate widebands on Guild of EFI group and watch sh*t fly about them they are well hated on there haha

[Puffwagon]

Haha people can get passionate about their cars. 

 

I think they are supposed to be calibrated every 3 months or so. It's been a while since I read the instructions so I'm not 100% on that. 

[eff xr6t]

It's funny watching monkeys argue on there widebands post usually come with there fair share of people saying widebands don't work and that you should only read spark plugs hahaha.

Guess I should do a calibration then it's been about 18months haha