Improvements in materials and manufacturing are usually implemented across the board for both older and newer designs which should mean improved service life for sensors currently manufactured for older cars.

Unless you are a qualified emission control system engineer, you should install the O2 sensor called out for your car by the sensor manufacturer and not attempt to adapt another sensor.

O2 sensor life varies widely, and I find no reason to change them at an arbitrary mileage. Some on this board have 10 to 15 year old cars with well over 100K miles and have never changed the sensor!

The sensor is a suspect if the car fails an emission test, and its function may be checked by testing the duty cycle of the EHA and observing the O2 sensor output directly with a scope. Both of these tests have received extensive discussion on this board.

Duke