Not O2 sensors but throttle position sensors: yes. I tried the parts store TPS on my '01 and they simply did not work correctly. As soon as I put a Mopar one in, truck ran perfect.

Like yourself, I found Denso to be the OEM supplier for Chrysler, so, I'm using the correct Denso O2 sensor on one of my 2Gens and am not having any issues.

You might have an ECM issue due to the nature (ha ha ) of the wiring issue you had. There could have been a voltage spike if two of those bare wires touched, or, if one touched metal. Related: I have a steady error code because I was messing around with resistors on the O2 wiring to fool the computer to think my catalytic convertor is still there. I zapped my ECM, because the code immediately switched to powertrain control error, but the truck has been running fine for years like this. It was just the downstream O2 sensor circuit that was cooked so it doesn't affect how the truck runs.