Thread: Automotive Oxygen Sensors

Hello, new to the forum and have found it extremely helpful. I researched and did not find any info on oxygen sensors. Have seen craigslist ad offering $.50/each without wires attached, how does this compare with other recyclers?

they contain platinum.

That's probably decent. I saw an ad for $3 lb. on one guy's site.

I would want the wires attached, preferably with both male and female plugs along with the oxygen sensor, most are gold plated the sensor itself contains a few milligrams of platinum.

Inside the MAS ( Mass Air Flow Sensor ) more platinum.

Winter is here and I'm now working at refining the precious metals out of my catalytic converters just toss the ceramic portion of the O2 sensor in with the cats being leached.

The on-board computer most have gold plated connectors both on the unit and wiring harness, but don't bet the farm of the latter and I've found computers with no gold.

I hear some noise about the air bag sensors having some gold content never pulled one so I cant say.

Some fuel sending units inside the tank have palladium oxide coating where the float indicator rides up and down with the level of fuel currently in the tank. On some cars and trucks your going to find chrome wire used for resistance readings of the fuel levels.

Wiring harness plugs and pins may or may not have palladium plating to prevent oxidizing, low end vehicles will be tin plated. Palladium has good resistance to oxidation from hash environment and weathering and is much cheaper than gold which shares this characteristic.

Your not going to get rich from this information, just some interesting facts.

Gus, its always good to read your munsings, Mike.

Originally Posted by miked

Gus, its always good to read your munsings, Mike.

Thanks Mike,

I always figured money was meant to be spent. I dealt mostly in heavy iron from logging and mining once that dried up got into scrap cars/trucks and bus's, electric trolleys and even hauled an English double decker once.. This is the first year ever that I have had to pay for a scrap car, how times change.

Because of my work and the money I made doing a large job, I could spend time with my wife and kids, visit my dysfunctional parents and their spouses, half brothers and sister on a whim. My father used to introduce me to new acquaintances as this is my son Gus, never worked a day in his life and lives the life of Riley. If I had it to do all over I wouldn't change a thing.

I never paid into a pension plan and have no regrets, at 62 I'm still holding my own.

I've parked the crane truck for the winter, currently working on my hot water boiler to get heat in my shop and some more heat for a chemical process used to recover the precious metals out of all those cats I've gathered over the past 2 1/2 years.

Then to complicate my life another trophy bride has found her way into my heart.

Congrats??!!?? on the new wife. Its always a kick to have new beginnings even at the ripe old age of 62 lol. With luck you may only get 30+ years of blissful marriage. You seem to live an interesting life but like most of us here I suspect there is a lot of sweat and bruised knuckles. Best to you, Mike.

".5$ a piece is high if you ask me...
Iv'e recently purchased 150 O2 sensors from scrap medical supply.
Ended up with 1.2g Pt and about 50g of gold plated pins... Do the math, this is from a very high end products. "

I "assumed" he was referring to automotive O2 senors. What are O2 sensors from the medical indutry? Mike

So if you replace an 02 sensor in your car...and have just one...whats the best thing to do with it?

Also airbag connectors do use gold because it doesn't corrode (so in 15 years your airbag will still go off)...however an airbag is NOT something you should just mess around with...

Thanks, I got that from your original post. I just didn't know what/if an O2 sensor used in medical equipement might also contain platinum. Another item to keep my eye open for. Mike.

Oxygen sensor is a electronic device. The amount of oxygen depends on many things such as altitude, the temperature of the air and engine, the load on the engine.

Thanks for this thread dude, i never new oxygen sensors had value.