Mini in Sacramento is quoting 5 bills to replace the oxygen sensor. Can anyone please chime in asap as to the legitimacy of this quote?

thanks

LL

 

Well, figure 2 sensors (before and after cat) at $100+, book rate of an hour each for labor (though it shoudn't take that long) and that gets you close.
An independent BMW shop (or ANY shop) should be able to do it for less.

 

Manual says to replace at 100k miles, do you already have 100k miles?

 

Thanks guys.......

I'm at 94K

ll

 

Since you seem to be out of warranty, I would go to another shop. Niello's good and all, and the labor flat rate is going to be similar from shop to shop, But you might be able to get a couple of less expensive, aftermarket 02 sensors.

 

thanks Gromit,

Already back from Neillo, $500 lighter

ll

 

Ah well, at least these will last you awhile.

 

For what it's worth List on the part alone is $195 (although Classic sells it for less). So if you got both replaced for 5 bills, that puts their labor rate about normal for an hour worth of work.

Normal for a MINI dealer mind you, not normal for the average worker.

 

I've gone through 2 of them (both under warranty) and they did mention that it's "about a $400 job".

 

sorry, my ignorance... what is the oxygen sensor for? i mean... besides oxygen.

 

The oxygen sensor is positioned in the exhaust pipe and can detect rich and lean mixtures. The mechanism in most sensors involves a chemical reaction that generates a voltage. The engine's computer looks at the voltage to determine if the mixture is rich or lean, and adjusts the amount of fuel entering the engine accordingly.

The reason why the engine needs the oxygen sensor is because the amount of oxygen that the engine can pull in depends on all sorts of things, such as the altitude, the temperature of the air, the temperature of the engine, the barometric pressure, the load on the engine, etc.

When the oxygen sensor fails, the computer can no longer sense the air/fuel ratio, so it ends up guessing. Your car performs poorly and uses more fuel than it needs to.

 

Nice description, Gromit.
Also in newer cars, they have TWO sensors - one before of the cat (catalytic converter), and one after to make sure the cat is doing it's job in eliminating pollutants.

 

Thank you, but I can't take credit. I did a search and copy.

 

thanks gromit... great answer.

sometimes i forget about the search function! d'oh!

 

How were you aware that they needed replacing early? Anything strange happen with the car? Or is it a warning light that goes off?

 

My SES light was on intermittently and then I started getting an intermittent "stumble" at about 3500 RPMs.

ll

 

It'll turn on the Service Engine Soon light. Then the techs will pick up a code indicating that the sensor has failed.

 

I had to have a new oxygen sensor at 64K miles (september 05).

Parts: $192.50 Labor $ 47.50 Total: $240.00

I love MINI of Peabody.

 

Has anyone had to replace sensors b/c they used to much injector cleaner? After a specific time of using Redline Injector Cleaner my MC mpg dropped 5mpg......
Has this happened to anyone else?