My front 02 sensor is throwing a bad heater in the 02 circuit code. SO I bought a new 02 sensor to install and just as I suspected, getting the 02 sensor loose was easy but the connector ---- well the connector location was designed by a demon engineer. Both front and rear sensors are attatched to a connecting plate which is well hidden down below the intake hose. There was a connector that was bolted that had some wiring harness with it and that was in the way of the 02 connector plate. Removed the nut, pulled the harness off the stud but still can't get to the connector well enough to pry open the ear that holds the female and male connector together.

I tried to get at it from under the car but it was still a bad situation.


Any ideas are appreciated.


My wife heard me complaining about $astard engineers. So I took my wife to our Subaru Outback 2.2 engine and showed her that I can release the front 02 connector in less than a minute....which I did. The Volvo I spent A LOT of time trying but didn't succeed. . I am sure there is a trick but I don't know it.

Now sure if it is because this car is a tubo but the intake hose is another mysterious arrangment. It is hard to see where it attaches to the throttle body. From Jaguars, to Caddies, to Fords and Subaru's I've never seen an intake hose that looks like a difficult arrangement to remove from the TB.

Not lov'in the Volvo today.

Off to my favorite mechanic for him to do the job.

 

You can't compare one car to another. The oxygen sensor may be easy to disconnect on your Subaru. But compare replacing the spark plugs on your Volvo to the Subaru. Much easier on the Volvo. For every part that's easy on one car, there's another one on that car that is easier on another. It can't all be easy. I've never had much trouble with the oxygen sensor connectors. Remove the airbox and slide your hand under the brake master.

The charge air pipe to the throttle can be removed in a minute.

 

Thanks for the idea and it is one I had while eating pizza for lunch (removing air box). I sometimes think you are the only one that answers questions on this forum. For almost 20 years I've owned Jags and been on Jag-lover.org. Most of the time on the lists you would have a lot of people offering answers. Do most Volvo owners not do their own work?

Again thank you for your help. I'm not sure how the connector comes apart from the rear sensor mounting plate but I'll give it another try. I'm about ready to just cut the wire under the car and do a splice job.

The 2.2 subbie is easy the 2.5 stinks. Every on the 2.2 is easy.

Spark plugs on our Volvo. My guess is I remove the turbo tube going over top the engine and remove the cover and then I am there.

 

You have to flip the locking tab on the connector to separate it. A lot of people think that working on volvos is hard so they choose not to do it. This is a DIY site so there's always a chance that some people haven't done things that others have.

 

Well it is finished and the 030 (02 sensor heater circuit) code is not coming back. It didn't finish as well as I would like. The little plastic latch that held the two connectors together was brittle and broke. The mounting bracket (holds both front and rear connectors on it) still has the end of the old front sensor connector in the hole so I could not mount t
he new one to the mounting bracket. So basically it is together and resting down there.

The connector has a rather long nose to it and I can't see them coming apart. They are resting perpendicular to the ground so it would need to be a lateral movement to pull them apart. I tried using an electrical tie to hold them together but there wasn't anything on harness side to grab hold. I've used the tie down method on other cars that have broken connectors and it works great. I ran 170,000 miles on a jaguar injector connector that was held down by elect ties.

Pulling the bundle of vac hoses off the air box gave me room to stick my arm in the area of the 02 connectors. Just too bad that the 02 sensor latch broke.

Thanks for your reply and help.