Fuel Injector and O2 sensor

[racerken]

I've got this dilemna...

I'm doing my 120k maintenance so I'm taking care of belt, tensioner, chain tensioner, water pump, fan clutch, thermostat, hoses, Plugs, and conducting the Power Valve Actuator/VIAS epoxy fix to kill the 2200 rpm buzz. So while I have the intake collector off, I thought I may as well take care of the fuel injector cleaning and O2 sensor replacement. Am I nuts?
The idle is smooth but I wonder when the fuel injectors get gummed. (should I just wait till things get rough?)
I'm more concerned about the fuel injector because it would take 1.5 hours to remove all the stuff just to get to the injectors.
The up-stream O2 sensor reads .2 off of normal so one bank is getting rich gas I guess. (again, should I even worry?)
Not so concerned because I can always reach these guys from the wheel well.
And btw, rock auto carries many brands of O2 sensors with prices doubling! Which one is recommended? Bosch, Denso, NTK?

I'm trying to get the new car performance for the last leg of this car.
120k miles.
Michigan driving with start-up and shutdown within 5 minutes in freezing weather x 5 miles per trip x 9 years.

I'd appreciate any comments.


Thanks,

Ken

[elwesso]

You can't really clean the injectors off the car, and honestly it's not worth the hassle. If you drive your vehicle regularly and keep up on replacing the fuel filter your injectors will be fine. Side feed fuel injectors can be a bit of a pain to sit properly back into the fuel rail, so I'd leave them alone.

NTK is the OEM supplier of o2 sensors.. I'd probably go with that. Beware that some of the cheaper ones are "universal" ones and you'll have to splice in a connector.

[racerken]

Hi Elwesso,

Thanks for the response. You just saved me days of anxiety.

[Towncivilian]

Bosch O2 sensors are fine too; Bosch is the original sensor supplier for Pathfinders.

Chevron Techron and Gumout Regane fuel system cleaners are effective cleaners.

[attofarad]

If you are in deep enough that it is easy to replace the water control valve (secondary thermostat between engine and firewall), maybe you should do that while it is easy.

[racerken]

You mean the temperature sensor?


R51 Cooling System by racerken, on Flickr

[Towncivilian]

I don't think R51s have the water control valve. I think we forgot to read rackerken's car list - we're so used to R50s here!

Your R51 should not be affected by the power valve screws missing threadlocker, but it can't hurt to seal them with red threadlocker while you have everything apart.