ok im trying to change mine out on my 97 lt1 firebird. the problem is it wont come out. the sensor itself is like two peices. well the part that the socket goes on seems to have seperated from the part that screws into the block. i have tried to grab the part that goes into the block with a wrench and a money wrench but no good. i need to change it because it is obviously a problem. plus im getting 3 degrees of knock all the time and im putting nitrous on the car and need to moniter for detination a little better. thanks for any help

 

You're just going to have to get it off any way you can, now that it is in pieces.

 

I had a stuck oil gallery plug that was breaking 1/4" craftsman extensions, and I tried the 'heat and wax' trick with good luck. Use a torch to get the remaining part of the sensor hot (up to soft red glow if necessary) then press a piece of parafin wax against it. The wax cools the stuck part and seeps into the threads. Then turn it with whatever grabs it best. Vice grips? For my plug, it worked GREAT. I didn't get it red hot either; couldn't with the handheld map gas torch I was using, and didn't feel like getting the oxy/act out unless I needed to. Worth a try since the sensor is junk anyway.

Tip is an old one, and is on p. 42 of Mike Mavrigan's 'How to rebuild LT1/LT4 Engines', for example.

 

mine did that to, I ended up drilling it and using an easy out. not a lot of fun, drilling with coolent running down on you.

 

its not in peices, just the outside shell that bends/crimps over onto the inside part that has the socket attachment, looks like the welds that held them two together has sepparated. now the inside part just spins inside the outside shell whenever i turn it with a socket. this really sucks cause i need i fixed like now.

 

there not welded, there just stamped over thats all that holds it. the more you turn it the worse it gets, theres windings in there that are probably all uncoiled by now, the sensor is junk once they turn.

 

A small pipe wrench would work well
I have a little one that is about a few inches....made for small fiitings, its thin enough to fit behind there