Exhaust Gas Sensor

[jmajda12]

New owner of 1981 Spider....

Had a coolant issue on recently purchased car, fan would not come on. Started to troubleshoot and found a house light switch, yes, I said that right, a house light switch with 14/2 electrical wiring running up to turn the fan on when it would it get up to around 190. So as I start digging, I found an aftermarket cruise control system also installed. I removed both...

Here is my issue, as I was doing that, I removed dash and such to get everything out, ensure all wires were connected in correct location, and all lights had a ground as needed for them to work. Well, I get everything back together, and now I have the EXHAUST GAS SENSOR indicator. Not sure if they loosened the bulb, removed a wire or what.

I replaced the sensor and pushed the reset button down by the gas pedal, but the light is still on. Any ideas why it will not go out? I know it just means to replace at 30,000 miles, should I just remove the light bulb and not worry about it?

Thanks and have learned a lot on the forum.

Jerry

[jmajda12]

Sorry for the multiple post, I kept getting and error message when hitting "submit", please see the first one

[18Fiatsandcounting]

should I just remove the light bulb and not worry about it?

That's what I would do. With your car being a 1981 model, it would have fuel injection and an oxygen sensor in the exhaust manifold. I think the warning light there was to remind you to check the oxygen sensor. If the car is running fine, I wouldn't worry about the oxygen sensor. They can actually last quite some time unless they are abused, like the engine burns a lot of oil, has been running way rich for a long time, etc.

My knowledge is a bit weak on FI cars, but I think there was also a "slow down" warning light on the dash if the catalytic converter was getting too hot. But, it you don't have a catalytic converter, you wouldn't have that warning light.

-Bryan

[spider2081]

I think the three warning lights in the center dash all operate from a timer that grounds one side of the bulbs for about 5 seconds. Power to the bulbs is supplied from fuse 1 (closest to the steering wheel). Often people think all the cube looking relays are the same and interchange them troubleshooting issues. The timer is unique and only works correctly in is original position. I like to identify the proper socket for the timer by the wire colors in the socket. The timer has pins C, C1,+, and - Socket wire colors are C1 violet/white, C Dark blue/red + blue/white and - white/black.
Be sure the timer is in the correct socket by wire colors. Some cars relay sockets have been moved during service and are not in the location shown in the manuals. Of course the timer can fail so the lights stay lit all the time. Its common for people to remove the bulbs when this happens as I don't think new timers are available.