Oxygen sensors and raw fuel

[Otter74]

I suppose this question could just as well apply to a 911, but it is actually about one of my other cars, so I'm posting it in OT.

The other weekend I was driving my '93 Sentra SE-R and after hopping in to go home from dinner with a friend, it was suddenly running on three cylinders. (the car was off the road for years until last year, and when i put it back on the road I didn't drain the old gas, whoops - so the bad gas with some new gas on top caused the same problem and I had to replace one or two clogged injectors with spares). I drove it home for about 10 minutes at city-street speeds.

Today I started it and looked around. There was a strong smell of raw fuel, and when I sniffed around I could see fuel leaking out of the gasket between the primary and secondary of the exhaust header. Hmm! After verifying spark on all cylinders, I started unplugging injectors and isolated the problem to cylinder #4. I figure injector #4 got stuck open, so I replaced it with a spare and...problem solved. Figure it was sticking for a while and getting gradually worse, which would explain the poor fuel consumption over the last 2-3k miles.

My question concerns the O2 sensor. I know O2 sensors do not take kindly to things like being bathed in raw gasoline. It wasn't run too long, maybe 15-20 minuts total, but there was a lot of unburnt fuel passing through the cylinder and pastthe sensor. Is my sensor likely toast, or not? And if not yet, is there anything I can do to it to ensure that I don't have to replace it? When everything is right the car runs beautifully and gets great fuel economy too, and a working O2 sensor is key to that!

[DanielDudley]

Plenty of people clean and test O2 sensors with a propane torch and a meter. Lots of You Tube vids on that subject.

My guess is though that a generic sensor is available cheaply for a 93 model car.

[asphaltgambler]

I wouldn't worry until something happens .........like a check engine light appearing.