Those that know are saying my Ox sensor might be on the way out. Does anybody have a good source or know how to test the sensor without the special tool the Factory Manual requires?

I searched threads here but came up empty.

(BTW 86 22re)

 

All you need is an ohm meter.

Im not sure what the specs on an 86 model are there.....

 

Is there anybody who can point me to where I can find the right ohm readings?

 

the fsm should have it
if its the 4 plug one you should be abel to test it
if its the 2 plug i dont think you can. I couldnt find anything for testing the 2 plug when mine went.

 

An ohmmeter will only tell you if you have an open (or short) in the heater of a 4-wire O2 sensor. I don't know if an '86 has a 4-wire or 2-wire, but I'm sure that whoever told you the sensor was on the way out was not talking about the heater.

You can test an O2 sensor with a voltmeter. On my '94, the diagnostic connector has two terminals Ox1 and Ox2, for the first and second O2 sensor (Calif only for the second). When the truck is running, the Ox1 connector to ground has either about 0.3 volts or 0.7 volts, and it switches between the two about 8 times in 10 seconds. So you're going to need a voltmeter that can register that low, so you'll need a digital. And since you're looking for a relatively quick back-and-forth, you'll want to get one with a "bar graph" of lcds to show that trend.

The absolute voltage isn't too critical, what you're looking for is the back and forth.

Note that the sensor has to be "hot" for this to work (hence 4-wire instead of 2-wire). If you don't get the back-and-forth, open the throttle to about 2500 rpm in order to heat up the sensor.