P0031 - Heated oxygen sensor

[H3XME]

Hi,

On Sunday my car decided to throw P0031 fault.. - Heated oxygen sensor 1, bank 1. I managed to read up somewhere on here that this is the easiest one to replace due to access. However, my questions is. What causes this? I can buy a new sensor a replace it, but is this a guaranteed fix? I would say the sensor works since this came on, but I've never come across this so I'm not really sure what to look for.

The car drives fine, idles fine, mpgs are fine too, there's nothing different. I managed to clear it yesterday afternoon, after the car was stood over night, and it didn't come on at all during the hour I drove it, but it came on this morning, maybe 3mins into my journey. 

Any suggestions/remedies?

 

EDIT: 

Think I might just follow this 

[is200 Newbie]

Age and mileage of car - usually after 70k both banks become ready for replacement. As you will see when you remove the old one, its just wear and tear. You will probably see that its blackened with dirt and heat damage - its not an indication of other issues but i would certainly consider looking to change the bank 2 sensor at the same time seeing as they were both probably installed into the system at the same time. 

Also, don't consider the cheap ones on auction sites as some (not all) are fake. Denso are the ones to go with as you don't want to be changing these all of the time. The part number should be on the walk through i posted which you have linked to and they are easier to buy from the states. If i can remember correctly i drove mine without issue for a few weeks until i received the order of the two sensors from the states.

[H3XME]

8 hours ago, is200 Newbie said:

Age and mileage of car - usually after 70k both banks become ready for replacement. As you will see when you remove the old one, its just wear and tear. You will probably see that its blackened with dirt and heat damage - its not an indication of other issues but i would certainly consider looking to change the bank 2 sensor at the same time seeing as they were both probably installed into the system at the same time. 

Also, don't consider the cheap ones on auction sites as some (not all) are fake. Denso are the ones to go with as you don't want to be changing these all of the time. The part number should be on the walk through i posted which you have linked to and they are easier to buy from the states. If i can remember correctly i drove mine without issue for a few weeks until i received the order of the two sensors from the states.

I found some genuine ones. They're all around £110