College kids......

You'll need a UK ECM with a tune select resistor of 910 Ohms (Persian Gulf States 3.9) to omit the 02's and the Cats. The resistor you can get at Radio Shack. The UK ECM has five different maps loaded in it's PROM. The NAS ECM PROM is wiped of all the extra maps except the NAS map. Unless you can find someone who can wipe the NAS ECM PROM and load it with the UK's.....this is the only way around your wish to add performance equipment without being detrimental.

Is that clear...er?

 

Still not sure if the problem is fixed though...

 

Yep. Thanks. I had no clue what it was at first. Basically grab a ecu from a rover that doesn't have cats so that you can use their maps.

 

Update: Aftermaket O2 sensors replaced with LR OEM. Problem persists...

 

Still the same issue;

Code P1185
Oxygen sensor heater open circuit
Upstream sensor

 

The job of the O2 sensor is to report the efficiency of the burning process of the fuel. It may be a bit sophomoric however, I suggest you check the gap on your plugs. Pre-gap plugs are are only set to meet a range of many different ignition systems so they will spark. If your spark is poor as a result of out of range gapping, your combustion is poor resusulting in O2 sensor reporting out of acceptable range condition to computer.

Work from the plugs back. You also may consider what is effecting the air fuel mixture. bad O2 sensor code typically symptomatic of another up stream condition

 

The sensors are most likely reading fine and only the heater circuit is having issues. I would check continuity of the heater wire between the O2 plug and the ecu. Based on what you experienced, a burnt fuse tells me there was a short. Now the circuit is "open circuit" probably caused by the burnt wire now completely burnt off/disconnected. Look for mechanical damage of the wires for that sensor. Look for burnt/fraying/pinched damage.

 

Comes to think of it, as you have mentioned the problem started after the shop replaced the sensors, here is what I suspect:

If your 98 is AEL(which I believe it is), as TOM R said, the NTK sensors you got are correct. They should have a grey colored plugs.
In the rare event that they were mis-packaged, for non-AEL, the plug is black colored. Wire colors for the sensor are identical for both types.
It is possible(I did this myself because I got the wrong sensors) by cutting off the original plug and splicing it to the new sensor, keeping the wire lengths the same. They will work. However....

If the shop said they were "wrong" sensors, I hate to think like this, but a dishonest shop who dislike customers who supply their own parts will create new problems by either splicing the wrong wires together on purpose or by incompetence(in the rare case that the sensors were mis-packaged and need to be spliced with the old plugs), or just plain poor workmanship on the splice, or worse, a new "splice" that they just created for you so you will pay them to get it fixed.

 

What concerns me is letting someone not familiar with a rover work on it I say this cause mechanics work on flat rate ( most honest ones, same as dealer) faster they get a job done more $ they make, on this car you need to remove the coils to properly access the up streams, even then they can be a pain, wires get yanked cause plugs are stuck, plugs get cracked or loose their lock tab and you now have an electrical issue

Not saying they did this but you now have an obvious issue that is not the sensors themselves