I have a Racing beat turbo Downpipe. I also Have a PLX wideband, which uses a BOSCH LSU 4.2 o2 sensor (yet to be installed). My question is has anyone used the Bosch sensor on the RacingBeat downpipe in the original o2 bung? The manual says to install the wideband sensor approx 24" from the turbo/exhaust manifold, yet the original narrowband sensor worked no problem in the R.B. downpipe. I also intend on heat-wrapping the downpipe. I do not want to weld on a new bung if I do not need to as there is no need for me to use a narrowband sensor with the 0-1v output of the PLX system.

 

The manual says that for a reason. I as well read the instructions on my NGK powerdex and have never had a problem. It'll tell you to install it within a certain distance of the turbo and catalytic converter, and within a certain angle in the exhaust. I'd have reason to believe that you'd experience shorter life from it being that close to the turbo if the instructions tell you to place it 2 feet farther downstream. Lambda sensors are constructed differently than regular O2 sensors.


Just get a new bung from Ebay or Mazdatrix. It should come with a plug, so you can just plug off the stock sensor hole. Make sure to let the new bung completely cool down before installing the sensor, and then tap the hole with a spark plug tap (it's an M-18 x 1.5 I think). I learned my lesson the hard way.

 

It'll work, but the life of the sensor is definitely an issue. With my sensor 30" from the turbo, it lasted about 10,000 miles before dying. On hot days, the sensor would overheat and throw an error code even with a large copper heatsink. The closer you get to the turbo, the worse it's going to be.