just found this....

A: Antifreeze Contamination
Antifreeze in the exhaust will attack and destroy the sensing element. A leaking head gasket commonly causes antifreeze contamination.
is exactly what mine looked like when i took it out when i did the headgasket cos it was leaking coolant into the combustion chambers, i see a light at th e end of the tunnel...
should i get a varying voltage of 0.2-0.8vdc across pins 1&2 if its working...?