> i had a quick question about how i loose power on my 86 vanagon(terrorist
> van). and was told i loose power after warm up due to a bad O2 sensor. so i
> decided to call up my local supplier for the part and he says 140.00 for a
> new one. i told him id let him know. then icalled my second option and they
> said for 70.00 they would show me how to wire a "generic O2 sensor" in place
> of the oem part. my question is what is so special about this oem sensor? is
> it a 3 wire heated unit or just something with a fancy plug and price tag? 
> 
BMW's use the 3 wire version of the O2 sensor.  What I discoverd is 
that the 87 Ford Mustang Bosch O2 sensor is the same one.  I buy one 
of those for about $55, splice it in, and everything is A-OK.  FWIW:  
many BMW owners on the BMW list do this w/ no problems.  I suspect 
that the Mustang sensor will work on the Vanagon too.

Greg
Gregory V. Robinson
ajax@why.net
tcdfw@aol.com (TwinCell: 2 Cellular Phones / 1 Number)
85 BMW 535i 157K  (BMW Digest)
85 VW Vanagon  135K   (Vanagon List)
BMW Resource Page:  http://users.why.net/ajax/bmw.htm
Great Drives Page:  http://users.why.net/ajax/gdrives.htm