How to break your MAF Sensor

[tlzeebub]

Had the bonnet up the other day and thought i'd clean the MAF sensor, so i removed it and noticed that it has black deposits on it so I sprayed it with carb cleaner which cleaned it up a treat. The car started fine but when i pulled away it was like someone had stolen the turbo and no matter how hard i hit the loud pedal it wouldnt kick down seemed like it was pulling away in 4th gear, got onto the motorway and struggled to get to 60MPH, oh duck i thought. Had to buy a new MAF yesterday £180 from Euro's expensive lesson learnt.

 

[recycled]

exactly the same happened to me. mine would not start from cold but when hot was fine.

 

[Shude]

You can also break it pretty quickly with a K&N performance airfilter panel. I think at least one member of this forum (mentioning no names) is probably still a bit sore about it.

Green Cotton filters are also oiled but they don't have the same effect it seems.

 

[maddog]

I've had my K&N in for about a year but replaced it recently due to get worried reading about them on this forum , in that time it didnt cause any problems

 

[1998K]

so, what's the suggested spray product to correctly utilize in case a MAF cleaning?

 

[panason1c]

isoprol alcohol is what the op should have used.
Carb cleaner contains a 'dissolving' agent to attack the carbon and this is what probably destroyed the maf......isoprol alcohol is a harmless alcohol based cleaning fluid, it contains no dissolvents and doesnt leave behind any residue.

isoprol alcohol in 'spray' form can be bought at any electronics shop, Halfords, etc

 

[1998K]

isoprol alcohol is what the op should have used.
Carb cleaner contains a 'dissolving' agent to attack the carbon and this is what probably destroyed the maf......isoprol alcohol is a harmless alcohol based cleaning fluid, it contains no dissolvents and doesnt leave behind any residue.

isoprol alcohol in 'spray' form can be bought at any electronics shop, Halfords, etc

thanks a lot

 

[recycled]

isopropyl alchohol completely busted mine up.

 

[panason1c]

isopropyl alchohol completely busted mine up.

I've previously used it (isoprol) on mine with no probs at all. Perhaps your maf was already at deaths door?

 

[recycled]

I think it was. hard starting and rubbish mileage. but it still had no backfires until the alchohol

 

[KLP 92]

To be frank, the only cure for a bad MAS is a new one. I've tried the alcohol trick but personally i've never seen it work. I know of plenty of people that have tried to clean them but ended up breaking them in the process.

 

[television]

There are 3 types of MAS filter, the early hot wire the wire erodes away and puts it out of spec, the sensor type can also become out of spec, this is all due to the speed of the air passing over the sensor, sometimes this air contains moisture, and particles that pass through the filter.

One of these days I will ask someone to send me one of the sensor type to see if just the sensor can be changed.

This is wide open to some firm with their head screwed on.