Car Ford KA 2003 petrol 1299CC

The engine runs fine, but the engine check light is on.  When I run a scan its comes up with P0030 H02S Heater Control Circuit bank1-Sensor1 fault.

I opened the sensor multi-plug and tested the resistance across the white wires going to the heater and they are open circuit.  So it looks like the O2 sensor needs replacing.

Whilst googling I noticed that some comments suggested that replacing the part did not necessarily fix the problem because it is also required that the EMU limits are re-programmed.  I rang my local garage and they said that they have never heard of this and they have replaced a lot of these sensors (although I wonder how many KA ones have they done?)

I am afraid I am trying to do this on the cheap for my daughter and was planning on buying a cheap O2 sensor from ebay.

Does anyone have any advice for me?

Should I just go for it and see what happens?

Any idea (if I need to get it done),  how much this calibration is likely to cost? Is the calibration something I could do myself?

Any suggestions much appreciated.

Thank You.

 

14 minutes ago, philp1963 said:

Should I just go for it and see what happens?

I think you kind of answered your own question

Thanks  Unofix and everyone who has viewed my post.

I will try and replace the part myself.  As is probably often the case I am trying to gauge if the car is worth the cost of the repair.

My daughter got the car for £50, but it had a number of corrosion warnings on the last MOT.  For interest I rang ford to see how much the O2 sensor would be. They said it would be over £300 quid. I can get one on ebay for less then £15.  I also asked them if the PCM would need an update.  They said you might or might not and that would cost £140 if you did.  So, for me its all about trying to work out whats best.  I really don't mind spending time on it myself.

So I will go ahead and try and remove the bank1 sensor.  I will spray WD40 on it and give it a try with a 22mm socket. If it will not move at all I will try heating it up.  And if it still wont loosen then I will put a bar on it and force it to do something.  If I get it off without damaging the thread I will buy an ebay one and clear the code and see what happens.  If it fails again I might call it a day (unless I can get the PCM updated more cheaply elsewhere) , if it passes I will put the car in for an mot and see what happens next. It would be great to try and get another year or two out of this car.  The engine has only done 52000 miles from new.

I'm not a mechanic, but I like to have a go at these things. Thank you for reading my post.

I think you will get away with not needing to calibrate the O2 sensor, and in anycase a working not calibrated sensor has got to be better than a not working sensor

Thanks unofix.  I've only just got the old sensor off today.  Very pleased.  It seemed to be stuck fast and WD40 had not worked. So after some further investigation I bought some Liquid Wrench and soaked the sensor with that for several days.  I had to cut the top of the sensor off because I did not have any deep sockets. I put a socket using a longish bar and put some force on it whilst my wife wielded a lump hammer, and bang it went after only a few blows.  I wasn't even putting that much force on the thing.  Very pleased with that, I did'nt need to apply any heat and it was much easier then I expected.  I've ordered a new sensor from ebay and I look forward to putting the new one on. Fingers crossed, the code will not come back.

Thanks everyone.

I have taken a little while to update this thread because I  had a little trouble obtaining a replacement part.  I wanted a genuine used ford part in the hope that It would be less likely that I would get the TSB fault.  The engine light (with the new sensor) is now out, but because the car is sorned I cant take it for a test drive yet. 

Apparently the sensor fault on a ka with the upstream hego needing replacing often means the ecu software needs updating too as the parameter limits on the new sensor need adjusting in the ecu.  TSB 67/2006.

I am crossing fingers that this wont be a problem for me.

Thanks again

Just a quick update to say that no calibration was required.   Its been 2 months now and the the engine light remains off.

Thank You so much for your help.