air-fuel ratio sensor connection broken

Good morning, I have been debugging DTC codes 2237/2238 and what sounds like detonation in a failed catalytic converter in my old 2007 Prius (375,000 miles!), I just removed the wipers and cowl yesterday to look at the air/fuel ratio sensor connection, and my connector appears to be melted somewhat, sides of the connector show signs of melting I am guessing that there is a connection problem stemming from this and the root cause of my DTC codes.

Can the four wires each side be removed so I can get the connector out to look at it carefully?

Can the bad connector be removed and the four wires be simply spliced together to get the air/fuel sensor working again? I did note that the colors of the wires going in are NOT the same as the colors of the wires going out.

Will any cheap four wire connector work? Again, which wires connect with with wires?

Am hoping that there might be some help here before I do something stupid! Am not touching a thing until I hear back from this august group.

Thanks, Lee

 

Thank you very much Chap for that great information, I was unaware of that site and how it worked. Right now I suspect that that "melt" is just 9 years of detritus, eg oil or other buildup, on the connector and am about to find out. The exact test of whether the culprit is actually the air flow sensor will tell me soon what has happened. As I've said, I am not touching anything yet until I get a good and clear understanding of where the problem might be. Thanks Chap!

 

Pardon me for not posting the follow up for two weeks I have been quite busy with work, time to update you all!

I ran the resistance test and there is no problem with the A/F sensor, all resistances within normal range. And in the process I did indeed determine that I only had a bunch of junk on the connector after all these years, no melting at all. So in the process of disconnecting then reconnecting that connector, plus all that handling, the connection problem went away! No more 2237 or 2238 codes. The only code I get now is the darned 0420 catalytic converter failed code, plus a lot of noise whenever going up a hill and pressing the gas pedal down a lot, signs of a clogged converter for sure.

Fortunately I live in a no-smog-test county here in California!

Cheers and thank you all! -Lee