check engine light, code 1

for the thanksgiving holidays, i drove to San Antonio to see a couple of friends before heading off to College Station to see family. the drive from SA to CS involved me going thru San Marcos and thru Austin before coming down back towards College Station (its a good 200 miles). on the way to CS, the check engine light came on. i pulled over, turned off the car, and started it up again with no problems. it happened again 3/4 of the way there. then while in town, it happend again twice, two different days. then again on the way back to Houston once. it kept throwing off code 1, which is the oxygen sensor primary A.

has anyone else had this problem on long drives? 200 miles isnt much, which is why this concerns me. any ideas? input? possible remedies? i'm just trying to figure out what's going on

thanks

Comments

  • Either:
    (a) your o2 sensor is bad. Replacement is under $40 at Autozone.
    or
    (b) your a/f ratio is far enough out of spec that the o2 sensor/ecu can't compensate for it. And there's easily a half dozen different possibile reasons for this.
  • duckie8310duckie8310 Senior Wagonist
    hmm...did that long drive have anything to do with it?
  • mvmmvm Wagonist
    duckie8310 wrote:
    hmm...did that long drive have anything to do with it?

    Davens is right on his reply. But honestly your long drive just let you know it was happening now rather then in the middle of the winter. :wink:
  • duckie8310duckie8310 Senior Wagonist
    great! thanks guys. i'll run to autozone this week
  • Bingo, the new o2 sensor is the first step.

    If it keeps happening with the new sensor, you'll need to do some troubleshooting....figure out your current a/f ratio and what's causing it to be off.
  • I had the exact same problem last winter and it ended up being my o2 sensor.
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