Cleaning maf

[White ls400]

Just out of curiosity, iv read People say dont clean the maf and others say you can clean the sensor. So whats the go with this, are you able to unscrew and clean the sensor only,(iv done this already and didnt seem to bother anything) Or when people say dont clean the maf do they mean the honeycomb and the aluminium body? Used to do it on my Nissan but didnt really care about it all that much, so i want to be sure with this car

 

[jibbby]

The Maf is very sensitive even to the slightest change...So cleaning it could infact foul it if your not carful... I've cleaned mine, change mine, and fouled one up once...It was that little honeycomb peice that tweaked up on me...

 

[Silver Taco]

This piece of equip is a very good money maker for dealers, shops, etc. Actually, it is a kind of a running joke in the Toyota parts world because so many folks simply just do not have the information, and are ignorant to what is under the hood.

I own a Tacoma, and have always cleaned this sensor with either electronics cleaner, or carb / throttle body cleaner, and have never had an issue. The throttle body cleaner is new 4 me, worked great, and was suggested by a buddy of mine. (He is a mechanic for Toyota, and does all the major work on my truck.) Regardless, it is one of those sensors that do not always kick off a code early on when it starts causing issues.

Just make damn sure you unplug it from the vehicle if you decide to start spraying cleaner into it (as I am sure you already know). You don't wanna short out a $300+ sensor (in my case). Also would suggest you heed jibbby's warning and advice as well since it is obviously from well learned experience.

 

[White ls400]

well today its a different story the car is in limp mode(wont go over 1400 rpm) i only unscrewed the black sensor and cleaned that, any ideas how to get it going again

 

[White ls400]

Can anyone tell me if just the black sensor from a 7mgte afm will run the car without problems i heard the electronics are identical, and iv got more hope of finding a second hand 1 of these

 

[jibbby]

Why did you want to clean it in the first place? The sensor doesn't get that dirty, the MAF body never gets that dirty, and the honeycomb never gets that dirty...WHY????

If anything you remove the maf and can clean out the alluminum inside, maybe and "carefully" clean the honeycomb, but messing with the sensor only invites trouble as you are finding out the hard way...

If it were me I would never clean the MAF... The throttle body/butterfly and snorkel tube I do clean regularly...That is really all you need to do with the intake... Unless you have a crappy non filtered intake I would never mess with the MAF...

My two cents.... Good luck though I hope you get it running right again..

 

[och]

Can anyone tell me if just the black sensor from a 7mgte afm will run the car without problems i heard the electronics are identical, and iv got more hope of finding a second hand 1 of these

7mgte MAF will not work right - it will send the same values as the LS400 MAF to the ECU, but it will let less air through because it's smaller in diameter, so your engine will run rich.

 

[White ls400]

no i just mean the sensor not the aluminium body it hasnt been touched

 

[och]

no i just mean the sensor not the aluminium body it hasnt been touched

That I'm not sure about. Since there aluminum body diameter is smaller, I guess the sensor might be smaller too?

 

[White ls400]

Its all good i found a wrecking v8 soarer. The problem with mine when i put it back in i didnt line it up with the hole properly then when i tightened it back down i chipped the side off that circle part

 

[White ls400]

and by the way the reason i cleaned in because my k&n had too much oil in it... It was pre oiled when i bought it

 

[och]

Hows your car running now? Any difference with the new MAF?

 

[White ls400]

Much more power still a slight ping but no where near as bad, but while diagnosing the afm, i found the coolant temp sender was reading minus 28'c

 

[White ls400]

should get yours checked it may be the answer to your nightmare

 

[och]

Much more power still a slight ping but no where near as bad, but while diagnosing the afm, i found the coolant temp sender was reading minus 28'c

Coolant sensor is pretty cheap brand new, maybe $25-50 USD, and it's very easy to replace.

 

[och]

should get yours checked it may be the answer to your nightmare

Well, I had mine replaced, and it didnt change a thing

 

[LS400GUY]

I've tried disconnecting the MAF sensor

Why did you want to clean it in the first place? The sensor doesn't get that dirty, the MAF body never gets that dirty, and the honeycomb never gets that dirty...WHY????

If anything you remove the maf and can clean out the alluminum inside, maybe and "carefully" clean the honeycomb, but messing with the sensor only invites trouble as you are finding out the hard way...

If it were me I would never clean the MAF... The throttle body/butterfly and snorkel tube I do clean regularly...That is really all you need to do with the intake... Unless you have a crappy non filtered intake I would never mess with the MAF...

My two cents.... Good luck though I hope you get it running right again..

When I disconnected the MAF sensor, the engine stalled on me, any ideas
about this? I still don't get the power I should, some have disconnected the maf and the engine still runs, what gives?

LS400GUY

 

[sideshow]

oil based air cleaners are the biggest cause of fukt air flow meters

throw the k and n away

its amazing how much pwoer u can actually get form factory air cleaners

90% of time pod filters actually loose power cause idiots dont fit a box around it and all the hot air from radiator and engine gets sucked it

the 1uz maf sensor is all plastic so its hard to stuff unles su use brake clean or carby clean

buy a can of electrical contact cleaner and clean it monthly

ls400guy ive had 1uzs stall and others not stall when no maf

not sure y i guess it could be all sorts of things

how do u know that u have low power
was it better before and now its bad
or u bought the car and just feels ****

there could be 100 things causing that

try plugging in another maf see if its better
if tis not then start looking at fuel compression intake leaks

injecotrs etc etc

list goes on and price goes up

im lucky i work in a place thatare jap importers and have all the spares in the world heheheheheh

so diagnosing stuff is nice and easy for me


heheh

 

[jibbby]

Yeah, well nothing beats the BFI intake... I've been trying to beat that with pod filters and it's not happening...

Nothing like the intake flow box trapping effect like stock... I do think a square K@N filter will outperform the stock filter though in stock form...Just my take... K@N is good if you can properly channel the incoming air directly thru it... Pod filters by themselves is not channelled and you do get engine heat thru the intake which makes them crap.....

 

[Zuffen]

Jibby,

K&N are oiled filters that kill MAF's.

They may flow good amounts of air (which usually indicates they don't clean it as well) but they will cause grief with you MAF.