Iridium spark plugs would kill oxygen sensor??

[kenjlee]

This is the second time it happened to me.
Any comment would be very appreciated.

I have a 1999 Solara V6 3.0L
The first time I changed to NGK iridium spark plugs, the check engine light turns on (didn't cause any performance problem) after a few hundred miles. My mechanic told me the oxygen senor died and need to be replaced, so I went ahead and changed it. No problem ever since.

3 years later, after another 60K miles, I decided to change them again. Engine ran better right after replacing them. However, after 100 miles the engine started to vibrate like crazy. Check engine light goes on again and I checked everything and the only problem I see is that some of the new spark plugs are totally wet and in dark brown color. (see picture) I'm almost certain that it's the oxygen sensor again.

I did some research and there were some articles saying that iridium spark plugs can release some kind of chemical that kills oxygen sensors. Some also says oxygen sensor won't be killed and it could have received false data to cause malfunction. As long as it's reseted it should be good to go.

Does anyone know how to reset oxygen senor? I have disconnected the battery for 2 days and reconnected back on, hoping it would reset the computer, but it didn't fix the problem.

Any comment is very welcome. Thank you.

[csaxon]

"I did some research and there were some articles saying that iridium spark plugs can release some kind of chemical that kills oxygen sensors. Some also says oxygen sensor won't be killed and it could have received false data to cause malfunction. As long as it's reseted it should be good to go."

Post the links to the articles you've read.
That's oil on your plug. It could be leaking spark plug tube, leaking valve seals, rings, or sludge.

[judge34411]

A guess. Do you think they actually mean reset the error codes?