This morning tried linking the 2 ecu inputs to one o2 sensor, the front one, car warmed up, idle settled at about 750 rpm, blipped throttle several times, no warning lamp, idle back to 750 rpm, everthing looking good so stopped engine reconnected everthing, restarted engine low tickover warning lamp comes on as expected. Tried same test with rear sensor only, fault still on, as you would expect. Retried test with just the front sensor again fault still on, not what i wanted or expected.
At that point decided to have a coffee break and consider options. Decided to leave engine to cool and repeat tests starting with rear sensor only this time.
It's all a bit inconclusive at the moment but quite possibly an o2 sensor.
Thanks for diagram showing expected waveform, if possible i'll connect the 'scope before i try the tests again.
The front sensor doesn't look very easy to get at which is a pity as there is nasty looking twisted wire and tape joint in the lead going to it and that will have to be sorted whatever else is done.