i think the wires run in the same piece of wire loom, and if the fluid drips far enough it can get into the o2 harness and cause it to short out

 

If you look at jeffmerr83 post. The member as pictures of the p/s switch. and it looks like it has been leaking.

 

So, I'm afraid that what I did (replacing the switch and cleaning the connector) isn't going to cure the problem.
I didn't see any sign of power steering fluid leaking outside of the plug, only once I unplugged it.
Also, If it did get power steering fluid inside the wiring harness (causing an O2 sensor wiring short), how do you fix that?

 

unplug the o2 sensor and clean the wires as best you can, then put it all back together and see if the codes go away, if not replace the o2 sensor(s) that are affected w/ good one from the dealer and that should take care of the code

 

I got rid of the code (replaced the up-stream sensor again) but, what I'm asking is, does just replacing the leaking power steering pressure switch and cleaning the connections on both going to cure the apparent problem?
Is there something alse to do to clean out the wiring harness? When this leaking power steering pressure switch causes a short to the O2 sensor, where does the short happen, in the harness somewhere or, does it leak all the way down to the O2 sensor?
As for using a factory O2 sensor, I tried that (at $100) and it only lasted 5 days...at least the Bosch ones ($42) are lasting 8-14 days!

 

you need to replace the switch and clean the wiring harness in order to get all the fluid out, the fluid leaks down to the sensor (or maybe the sensor plug) and shorts it out there, at least that is how i have been lead to understand it anyway, i havnt had to deal with it personally (yet)

 

Great, that sounds like fun!
I changed the switch, changed the O2 sensor and cleaned both connections with CRC electrical cleaner.
How the H_LL do you clean out the harness?

 

compressed air? and maybe spray cleaner along it from the ps switch that was leaking, i really dont know what else to suggest, either that or you have to pull the loom out and replace it all just to clean the wires

 

Not sure if this will help much, but I've done a lot of work with 6 axis robotic welders / plasma cutters and oily / dirty wire harnesses inside a robot were always trouble and pain to clean.

For open wires / ends I would clean things as best I could with de-natured alchohol and a rag. You can apply the stuff with a spray bottle liberally as any excess that you don't get off will evaporate quickly.

When I had a harness that I couldn't get to easily, I used K2r spot remover (really!) in a spray can. Hit the harness good and saturate it. The spray will attach to the oil and dry into a white powder that can be wiped off / blown away with compressed air. I would get some strange looks when I whipped out a spraycan of this stuff, but it sure did beat tearing down a $200k robot in a production environment for 12 hours while I removed / replaced a wiring harness!

Quite honestly I'm amazed that some PS fluid on the OUTSIDE of a sensor would cause it to fail. I could see if it hit the sensor body itself, but on the outside I would think that it would cause a bad connection that cleaning it up would rectify, even if it was only until the connection got dirty again.

Are the sensors really bad, or is the code clearing because the new one is clean? Any way to cheack a sensor? (i.e. measure resistance across it, etc.?)

Bob

 

if the fluid causes a short across the connectors on the harness the short can damage the sensor, not all the time, but i happens more often than you would expect