Why you should not use solder on O2 sensor wire

["Karl Chen" <karlcchen@domain.elided>]

Because of of higher temp. that can transfer to you soldering
point.  The wire material use on all O2 sensors must resist
high temp oxidation.  Normal copper wire will not do !
It is also an coincidence that the engineers welcomed
that this material does not work well with solder.
No matter how powerful you soldering iron is,
it will not solder well, guaranteed ! the engineers
designed it this way to deter any monkeying around.
Remember the notorious 164 low speed fan resistor.
Alfa engineer learned a lesson how high temp and
vibration there can accelerate oxidation.
The new high temp wire is blazed on resistor.
The new connector is far from resistor to avoid
high temp.  Do not use solder there too !
The exhaust is much much higher than that resistor.
Your solder which doesn't hold well already
will simply MELT !  When soldering heat
wire, not solder.  Please learn your proper skill
somewhere else not from this digest.  you will
never get anywhere from reading tips here or
anywhere in internet.   This place is only for
emergency and someone already know what they are
doing.  Novices can never gain any strong basic
knowledge which is the most important things.
Otherwise I will have my kid quit school and
just browse web.  I read digest when I have
nothing else more important to do, sorry !
I don't need recognition or approval here.
Go to good technology school to get
basic knowledge and read good books on the
subjects if you are serious.

Note your ten dollar wire crimper cannot make a good
connection.  A good connection that's up to Aircraft
Quality must use crimpers that cost hundreds of dollars.
I guess alfa is not an aircraft, so you are welcome to
try it with your low cost crimper or just God forbidden PLIERS,
but I treat my alfa like an aircraft, it even has
engine hour meter to keep track of all maintenance...
The right crimpers to do the task must also have right
jaw size and clamp force to form a so called "cold soldering"
that is the connection is completely airtight and water
tight too so it can resist oxidation.
Crimp force has nothing to do with your hand strength.
Your normal automatic/home electric tape will not
work there too.  It will simply MELT and let dirts and
water come in !  I don't even want to think about it any more,
what a pain and waste of time !

One of good( still not aircraft quality approved )
quality crimpers I can find is Griot's garages crimper
with many jaw set to choose from.  It is only $99.

http://www.griotsgarage.com/catalog.jsp?&SKU=15946

You must also use correct size of jaws to do the job.
One size fits all does not work !
this is also a good tool to have for automatic
and some household electric jobs.
See ! it will only cost more than save you money.
I do not service my own car to save money, I service
my car to make sure it receive the correct treatment.
To save money please buy TOYOTA CAMRY.
But my 92 alfa 164S is more reliable than any 99 TOYOTA
camry on the street.  The only thing I worried about
is when gas is going to run out.  And who should
inherit my alfas.  Did I mention I haven't had
oil change( just filters change ) for more than
65,000 miles on my 92 164S and four years - the oil
analysis tell me oil quality is still excellent.
Thanks to wonderful AMSOIL by-pass filter and 20W-50
racing oil !

I enjoy doing more than 100mph on almost daily basis from
San Jose to Fremont.  Traffic on freeway 680 is
moving more than 80mph most of the time at 9:30am and
7:30pm, that's the way you should drive your alfa.

Karl Chen, San Jose, CA, USA


_________________________________________________________________
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp

--
to be removed from alfa, see /bin/digest-subs.cgi
or email "unsubscribe alfa" to majordomo@domain.elided