Does anybody have any information regarding the supposed "lead-proof/resistant" nature of Denso O2 sensors ?
I have heard several times in the past that the triple-filtration design of these sensors (vs Bosch/AC Delco/etc) will allow one to run leaded AV 100LL fuel or leaded 110 race gas safely on a limited basis without ruining the sensors. I'd like to hear from anyone with experience regarding these O2's with leaded fuel.

 

I've heard the same thing from several people. One being a friend of mine who has put several tanks for lead race gas threw his car and has had no problems as of yet with his o2's. I ran denso's in my car but was never able to test it out with lead race gas. One thing to note is that you probibly dont want to run leaded gas with cats. It may clog them up.

 

I don't have any flow restrictin' cats (nor dogs for that matter ) on my car, thus nothing to 'plug-up' with the leaded fuel.
I think I'll tank-up with AV100 (~115 R+M/2 pump octane) for the first tank of fuel on my new engine to see how it runs.

 

I run the denso 02s..

yes you can run leaded with them....I only do it about once a month.

one of my friends does it all the time with his turbo buick....no problems yet

 

I ran avgas in my dirt track car.... I have no experience with it's effects on O2 sensors, but with a carbed engine the gas worked great.....except for one small problem.

If the car sat long the lead settled in the carb and would stop it up. I always had to disassemble the carb and blow out all the lead in it.

This may be a non-factor with an EFI car, but something to think about.

 

Well, the other side of that is that occasional av gas use with normal O2's doesn't ruin them either...

 

According some info from Innovate, most O2 sensors are good for 50 - 500 hours of operation in leaded fuel. Assuming 60 mph, that's the equivalent of 3,000 and 30,000 miles.

Mike

 

Mike, seems like them guys at Innovative are correct. I've been running leaded race gas in my pile for a year now with the same stock GM O2 sensors and they have not become lazy. Maybe 1000 miles of street use so far.

Karl Ellwein