Any recommendations on what brand O2 sensor to get? Are some better than others? Why am I seeing listings for upstream left, upstream right and downstream? I only have 1 upstream and 1 downstream.

96 Ram 1500 5.2

 

NTK, or Denso. Avoid Bosch.

There are multiple listings, difference being california, vs. federal emissions. You want the right side, federal emissions feller. Upstream is pre-cat. This is the important one. Downstream is post-cat, and all it does is tell the PCM if the cat is working right or not. If you don't have any codes for it, don't bother changing it.

 

RockAuto is listing the right precat and downstream as the same part number. My upstream has a grey electrical connector and I believe that O2 sensor won't connect to my black downstream connector.

Could it be the left pre-cat I want? It is showing a grey connector on RockAuto.

 

i don't know if the connector color is significant or not, but there are 2 shapes - round vs square. And there are varying lengths of wire. beyond that - its my opinion that they are all otherwise the same. you can see this in that the universals are listed as valid replacements. so what is a universal.... a long set of wires with no connector plug.

the best thing to do is unplug/inspect your current O2 and check the shape of the plug and approximate length of the wires.

consider a universal if the price is right. and if all else fails and you get the wrong one, just cut the end of and splice it in to you old plug. that's what i had to do.

so the tip is - don't destroy your old connectors or cut the wires too short. you might need them. if you cut the wires, cut them out in the middle where you leave yourself plenty of splice material.