Well, the "goop" I used is about 3 years old, so I'm sure it is not affecting my brand new AC Delco sensors. In the past, I always caught my exaust leaks by the fact that my spark plugs would turn brown on the porcelin white part of the plug. I just changed them all and did not find any dark brown spots. Hang in there with me guys, I'll run some checks tomorrow and report back---thanks for all the input!

 

loving the fact that you actually follow up with whats going on. Keep everyone posted.

 

Fast moving gasses in a tube reduce the pressure in the direction perpendicular to the wall of the tube. As velocity increases, perpendicular component of pressure decreases. This can cause the exhaust gas to educt air into itself through a leak in the wall - Bernoulli's principle.

 

Wasn't that the guy that used to fixed F.I.A.T.'s?

2 things. I sent my plugs back from a brand new honda. Less than a year old. I saw the same brown film on the insulator you're talking about. I did NOT have any exhaust leaks. I thought the insulators where leaking at the metal. I sent them back to Federal Mogul, the parent company of champion. They wrote back and said it was from "corona" effect. In certain weather, you could even witness the "corona" discharge. So I wouldn't put a whole lot of faith in a leak causing the brown film on the insulators.

The second thing is what about the noise thing if your exhaust was leaking?

BTW I noticed that permatex ultra copper says "sensor safe" on the package. Oh well.

 

Just got done trying to find my header leak. First off, I don't hear any loud ticking noise. I did get my pen mirror out and while under the car I found a very dark spot at the very rear of my header. Problem is, I don't know if it's a new blow out or an old (I can't get my stethescope there to check). I also read that you can try turning the lights out and use a laser to check for leaks--I tried that but didn't see much. When under the car I am smelling exhaust, so I guess the header is going to come off this weekend.

I do have some interesting readings... In close loop after 8 minutes at idle, I had the following:
Trim cell 16
LT 108 : 160
ST 86 : 170
left O2 cycles fine but usually between 500 and 850
right O2 90 to 250 fluctuating VERY slowly

My car has always had split BLMs--just never this bad (I was told it's due to my cam). Are there any other things I should check that would cause this lean condition on my passenger side? Is there any damage I could cause by taking the car out in OPEN loop to test her out (just for 5+ miles)?

 

Thanks for all the help guys, thought I would let you know how this ended up... Here's a little list to explain what I have learned through this ordeal:
1. Bosch O2 sensors suck, I've been through 3 sets over 5 years (2,000 miles/yr). AC Delcos are the way to go..
2. After modding these cars the way we do---you can't get comfortable with them, they require attention every year. Case in point, 4 of my passenger header bolts were a little more than finger tight. Amazingly, the gasket didn't look that bad, but I could see that it was leaking--throwing off my O2 sensor and giving me a false lean condition.
3. No matter how many years you have been wrenching on your car, you can still make stupid mistakes. In my case, I recently replaced all my plugs and I crossed the last 2 wires on the passenger side I found this as I was getting ready to replace the header gasket. I'm amazed the car even ran. To make it worse, I have OVC looms, still can't believe I made the mistake.

So, I doubled up my felpro 1406 gaskets with Copper RTV, and actually put all the wires on the appropriate plugs and the car is now running like a bat out of hell. BLM's look good, O2 sensors functioning good, and enough power to rip them through 3rd gear.

Thanks again for all of your input!