The MAF or mass air flow sensor in your vehicle plays an important role. Acting as your engine computer’s eyes, the air flow meter is placed inline of your intake system. Over time your mass airflow may become clogged or dirty, leading to poor performance. If you feel as though your car or truck is slower, or getting bad gas mileage a dirty MAF may be the culprit. When it comes to your EFI system, a clean MAF will ensure your vehicle is running as smoothly as possible.
Today I’ll be showing you how to clean your mass air flow meter. Before we begin however it’s a good idea to learn about your MAF sensor and what it does in your vehicle.
What does the Mass Air Flow Sensor Do?
Your engine computer needs a way to read the amount of air, as well as the barometric pressure and temperature to properly operate your engine. As air enters through your intake piping, the MAF reads the monitors the air. The values are then converted to a signal that your engine computer will understand.
Your engine computer is also known as the Powertrain Control Module, or the Engine Control Unit.
When your MAF sends this signal your computer can then properly deliver the right amount of fuel. Fouled mass air flow sensors or a dirty MAF can alter the signal.
This leads to an improperly working MAF sensor, which can cause your vehicle to run poorly.
Needless to say if you want your car or truck to drive right, you need a clean MAF. Dirty or fouled meters can cause a lazy response or incorrect voltage signal. Sometimes you may need to troubleshoot your MAF sensor, when you need to use our guides at My Pro Street.
How Does the MAF Sensor Work?
There are several different kinds of MAF sensors, which can work in a variety of ways. One of the most popular kind of mass air flow meter is known as hot-wire. This kind of mass air flow meter uses a wire that’s charged with current.
My measuring the voltage at these wires, the MAF can determine the volume of air and temperature. As air passes over this hot wire element the meter reads the important values and transmits them.
Over time however, dust and particulate matter that works it’s way past the air filter can cause problems. This dust and particles can cake onto the MAF sensor wire.
Without the right amount of maintenance, your once clean MAF will become dirty. This can cause problems such as a inconsistent idle or bad gas mileage. Dirty mass air flow sensors can even stop working all together. This happens when there’s enough dirt and particle matter that’s blocking the wire from the incoming air charge. In fact when your car won’t start, one of the biggest reasons is that you don’t have a clean MAF.
How To Fix a Dirty MAF
While most car manufacturers want you to install a MAF replacement, it can be costly. The cost of most brand new or re-manufactured mass air sensors can exceed 300 dollars. Instead the best way to get a clean MAF is to use a solvent based mass air flow cleaner. These can cost you around 7 dollars and is easy to enough for anyone to use.
Cleaners like the CRC can shown to the left are cheap and easy to use.
Before your work on cleaning your MAF, you will need to locate the air cleaner and housing.
If you have an aftermarket intake installed, the MAF sensor will be mounted to the intake pipe.
The next part of learning how to clean your MAF is to remove the MAF sensor. Once the MAF sensor is disconnected, you can look down the sensor and see where its dirty. Carefully remove the sensor and disconnect the sensor connector. In order to clean your dirty sensor, you won’t need much more than just a clean rag and the MAF spray.
Although you can clean your dirty sensor without removing the actual airflow meter from the housing, it’s best to remove it for a clean MAF.
To do this however you may need a TORX wrench. Many replacement MAF sensors are sold without the housing. Your MAF housing is the plastic inlet tube that your sensor is mounted to.
Clean your MAF Sensor
Once you’ve got the sensor freed, you can spray the cleaner directly onto the wires of the meter. Spray liberally but do not touch or scrub the wires inside the MAF. Remember to clean using the spray, you want a clean MAF not a broken one.
When you have a clean MAF, allow the hotwire to dry completely before reinstalling back into your intake.
If you have a stored OBDII Diagnostic Trouble code, use a scan tool to retrieve and erase the codes in question.
You can also choose to spray the MAF cleaner into a small tray and submerge just the wire part of the sensor. Do not submerge any part of the circuit board or anything else other than the wires of your MAF sensor.
Dirty MAF Sensor Symptoms
Faulty mass air flow meters or dirty ones can cause problems that can be misdiagnosed. Many people believe there’s another issue, where all you need is a clean MAF. Some of these problems can easily be remedied by a clean MAF or a new one.
- Engine stalls out
- Poor engine performance
- Engine runs rich or lean
- Car Won’t start
- Inconsistent engine response
- Black smoke from tailpipe
If you suspect that you need a clean MAF sensor to replace your dirty one, use this guide to clean it. You can always take it to a certified mechanic who can help you diagnose the problem. When your MAF sensor has failed or has gone bad, your vehicle will store a specific code that will show you that there’s a problem.
Have any questions about how to clean your MAF sensor? Leave them for us below and let us know!
