I recently purchased an Bosch O2 sensor for a 1993 Volvo 240 and obtained a California version of the sensor instead of the other 49 state version and am wondering if they are truly different sensors.

The plug on both the California and my car the same female plug and can't be connected. The other 49 state sensor has a male plug which would plug into the female plug on my car. Does anyone know if the sensors are actually different or is it just the plugs. I am hesitant to splice the wires as it seems that if the plugs are different the sensor are likely to be different?

How bad is it for the catalytic converter to drive say 100 miles with no 02 sensor?

If you are buying these sensors be sure you get the right plug it is easy to screw up that detail.

 

The sensors should be the same, but these days with all the varieties, who knows... I use Ford O2 sensors so I always splice them into the Volvo plugs. You shouldn't drive w/out the sensor: bad for the car, and it will make a helluva racket. And don't worry about torquing it, just tighten it well, it's not going anywhere.

 

I did splice the wires and it seemed to work fine. Thanks for the advice. Also called Bosch just to confirm and they said it actually was the same sensor just with different wire lengths and plugs than the non-CA version.