In a message dated 2/18/03 11:37:15 AM, vannman99@YAHOO.COM writes:

<< I guess my question is what could cause a new O2
sensor to read so low? >>

Jeff, my man, check for a hinky injector.  I only suggest this because I was
occasionally enduring the same symptoms which you described, except that it
sometimes took a couple of reboots to get the van running properly.
Yesterday, on a slight but long grade, the throttle got flabby again but, the
van would not submit to the magical powers of The Restart.  The good news was
that it was acting the same dead cold or fully hot so that ruled out a lot of
the fuel injection control system.

Before I worked on it today, I drove it around a bit with what seemed like a
slight misfire and the attendant lack of zip.  After going through the
ignition system and only finding that it was running rich, I turned my
attention to the fuel injection.  For the hell of it, I pulled the plugs from
the injectors one at a time to see if one of them was blatantly bad.
Hallelujah!  The third one I pulled made no change.  When I metered it, it
showed an open coil.

In answer to your question, the O2 sensor might be DOA, or, a cylinder with a
queefed out injector would just be pumping air which would lean the exhaust.
Then why was my van running rich with a bad injector, you ask?  Because the
OXS was detecting a lean mixture and the ECU was trying to arrive at the
proper mix by bathing the 3 good cylinders with excessive fuel.

You know, I am amazed how well these things run on 3 holes.

George