Fouled Wideband sensor?

[awptickes]

Ok, let's say someone who didn't know that my car hadn't been tuned yet drove it. For like 80 miles. It must have run extremely rich, through the whole band, like 12:1 or so.

So now I'm tuning it, and the wideband doesn't seem to respond at all. At idle it reads accurately, but anywhere else, I get around 12.45:1. I pulled it, and it was covered in carbon deposits, thick, fluffy, velvety carbon. I wiped it off, being careful not to get it inside, but I'm still not getting a very good response at anything above about 1200 rpm. Could it have been fouled inside, and thus screwed up pretty bad?

Is it possible to fix it, or should I order one now, and wait another two weeks without a decent car to drive?

 

[Briansol]

12:1 isn't really rich... that's spot on for a turbo car.

You can use a propane torch to clean the tip of the sensor. basically heat it up to burn off the carbon. don't cook it, just constantly move it around

 

[t3t4delsol]

soak the tip in seafoam or carb cleaner

 

[awptickes]

Yeah, but my car isn't turbo. Thanks for the info, it's just like cleaning up plugs then I guess.

 

[awptickes]

Hrm. I wonder where I get seafoam here.

 

[t3t4delsol]

if you cant find that you can use carb cleaner or brake cleaner

 

[awptickes]

Would engine degreaser work? I know it's a little bit thicker, but I've never really used carb cleaner, I think I was born after FI took hold.

 

[t3t4delsol]

its possible but im not sure how it would break up carbon deposits