$100 Civic VX 5 wire O2 / LAF sensor. will it work?

[GasSavers_ian]

Hi all,

I went through the troubleshooting flowchart for a CEL code 48 on my '93 Civic VX and landed on replace LAF sensor. I got the Honda part # (36531P07003) for my car's LAF sensor from hondapartsnow.com who say they are an authorized Honda parts dealer and want almost $400 for the sensor.

A Google search of the part # yielded many forum discussions on the topic of whether or not cheaper sensors will work. I've read many posts warning to beware of sensors with a blue wire and to stay away from the L2H2 sensor. Some are saying that the lower price sensors wont function well enough to extinguish the CEL and others are saying that even if the cheaper sensor turns off the CEL it will negatively affect MPG. Many others claim to have purchased and used lower price sensors with no ill effects.

I'd like to pay as little as possible for the sensor, but don't want to get stuck with a sensor that either doesn't work, or hurts my MPG. Any advice/real world experience would be most appreciated. I don't yet fully understand this issue and am hoping to get more of an education here.

Here are two sensors I found on e-bay that both say they are the right part for my car. Please weigh in with whatever advice you have and thank you for your time.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HONDA-CIVIC-...0#ht_500wt_792

http://www.ebay.com/itm/WIDE-BAND-OX...677765#vi-desc

[Rusty94cx]

Any luck did you get one? If so did it work? No issues? Please chime in and let us know.

[1993CivicVX]

I bought a cheap sensor and it never worked right. It'd keep throwing a code. But as long as I turned the motor off and then bump started it again, I could get it to go in lean burn for a little while before it would throw a code again.

[Rusty94cx]

That's what I thought I'll just chip my ecu to remove the 02 from the equation.