Autozone A/F ratio gauge

[Albrecht09]

I was at Autozone getting oil the other day, and I was just killing time looking through the isles, when I saw an A/F ratio gauge by Sunpro I believe. I have been needing to buy an AEM wideband, but this 50 dollar gauge got me curious..normally I'm not the one to go cheap when it comes to parts, but I could not think of why this gauge wouldn't work just as well as an AEM...

I know the AEM comes with a new O2 sensor and wiring for the gauge to plug into the O2 wiring, so I asked if I could open the one at Autozone to see how it hooks up. Its essentially the same as an AEM, its got 4 wires that splice into the O2 wiring. The only downside I can see is the Autozone gauge doesnt give an exact number readout of your A/F ratio, it just has a scale marked with "Lean", "Ideal", and "Rich". Would this gauge do me any good? Or at least till I can afford an AEM?

 

[TurboLaserRS]

My word isn't exactly gospel, but I would say to save your pennies. The gauge is probably a narrowband. It's generally considered garbage for tuning.
I would buy an exhaust gas temperature gauge before I bought a narrowband.

 

[Twistaye]

^ Agreed.. The gauge is a narrowband gauge.. Pretty useless unless you want a light show going off in your car. Save your money and pick up an actual wideband.

 

[95talongirl]

It's a narrowband gauge... most modern 02 sensors are 4-wire. (power, ground, signal, and a heater circuit wire) The widebands are 5-wire. Narrowband gauges are a waste of money if you plan on using it for tuning.

Save your money!

 

[silvreclips]

Yes that is only a narrow band O2 sensor. AEM comes with a new sensor because the factory O2 can only tell if the mixture is lean or rich. It really does not know the exact AFR of the exhaust.

 

[Albrecht09]

Ahh, I see.

Much obliged for the info gentlemen.

 

[my98gsx]

Sunpro does not make a wideband AF gauge that I know of. Save up, and buy the AEM

 

[TheFallenJosh]

What about the other Sunpro gauges? I've been thinking about picking up an electric oil pressure, and vaccuum boost gauge from them, since I'm trying to still get car parts, but save money fro college in the fall.

 

[Jesse2012]

I have one of those, came with the car. It tells you nothing - its just a flashing light. Definitely keep saving for a wideband

 

[92boostinawd]

Save up get the wideband, will make life much easier when it comes to tuning.

 

[Seamus]

Don't buy an AEM, it is much slower than innovate, plx, zeitronix, widebands. If your car is lean, the AEM lets you know over 96 lean combustion events after the innovate. That is 24 full revolutions of the crank shaft.

 

[007jimmy]

Don't buy an AEM, it is much slower than innovate, plx, zeitronix, widebands. If your car is lean, the AEM lets you know over 96 lean combustion events after the innovate. That is 24 full revolutions of the crank shaft.

Damn wish I would have known this when I got my AEM wideband not that long ago...

 

[LiquidX]

Don't buy an AEM, it is much slower than innovate, plx, zeitronix, widebands. If your car is lean, the AEM lets you know over 96 lean combustion events after the innovate. That is 24 full revolutions of the crank shaft.

I've been stressing that for awhile even with the link to the test results. People still buy it for the name..

 

[LaserRS92]

Does anyone have a link or site as to where I can read about that data on the AEM unit?