One of the things that make owning a Toyota so great is that it has an engine that produces a lot of horsepower and torque. But that very same engine can also produce a lot of harmful gas and other toxic pollutants. Inside the internal combustion engine of your car, fuel and air is mixed and ignited by the spark plug. And when this mixture is ignited, it releases gaseous byproducts of tremendous heat and pressure. Some of those gas byproducts include carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, and other carbon-based gases that can pollute the environment and cause health risks such as respiratory problems. And in order to counter this problem, your Toyota comes with a catalytic converter installed within its exhaust system.

The catalytic converter is an essential component in the exhaust system because it reduces the toxicity of the exhaust gases created by the engine during the process of internal combustion. The catalytic converter does this by using a catalyst, usually composed of a precious metal such as platinum, which breaks down the carbon monoxide and other toxic gases in the exhaust gas into simpler, safer compounds such as oxygen. But in order to do this, the catalytic converter must have an adequate amount of oxygen in order for the catalyst to work. The car usually remedies this by adding more air in the air and fuel mix in the combustion chamber inside the engine, and in order to know whether there is enough oxygen in the exhaust gas, your Toyota employs a tiny device called the Toyota Oxygen Sensor.

Toyota Oxygen Sensors are a crucial part of your Toyota's emissions control system as it is responsible for providing data to the engine management computer about the amount of oxygen in the exhaust. Usually located near the combustion system, the oxygen sensor detects the amount of oxygen in the exhaust gases just after it leaves the combustion system and after the fuel burn. By calculating the exhaust hundreds of times per minute, the computer on board your car's engine is able to make adjustments in order to maintain optimum engine performance and lower smoke emissions. The quality of the burn often shows that there may be a slight imbalance in the air-to-fuel ratio. The engine of your car depends on the Toyota Oxygen Sensor as the quantity of oxygen it can process is decided by various factors like altitude, engine temperature, air temperature, engine load, and barometric pressure among others. The level of oxygen in the exhaust also serves as the basis as to the quality of the burn itself. This is quite critical as a poor burn will not only waste the potential power in the fuel, but it may also signal a slight imbalance in the air-to-fuel ratio. And when this occurs, your car will experience poor performance and ends up wasting more fuel. And to ensure your Toyota Oxygen Sensor will last you for a long time, you should give more attention to the following factors: good electrical connections, outside air supply, proper operating temperature and the use of unleaded gasoline. This is important because a malfunctioning car oxygen sensor can result to the engine computer not reading the correct air/fuel ratio, thus resulting to a less than optimal engine performance and fuel efficiency.