What Happens When the Oxygen Sensor Goes Bad

If your vehicle has a bad oxygen sensor, it could run irregularly or sound rough when it idles. A faulty oxygen sensor can impact your engine’s timing, combustion intervals, and other essential functions. You could also notice stalling or slow acceleration.

What happens if you drive with a bad oxygen sensor?

A bad oxygen sensor could cause sluggish and rough driving with stalls, along with poor fuel efficiency and high pollution. And if you leave it there for several months, it may lead to serious problems in the engine and catalytic converter which cost thousands of dollars to fix or replace.

Will a car start with a bad O2 sensor?

In many cases a car will start with a faulty O2 sensor, but the sensor may cause the car to backfire or stall while idling. A faulty O2 sensor also can cause so little fuel to be sent to the engine that the car may not start.