Engine Drivetrain 2nd Gen Most liked posts in thread: Cleaned the MAF

your spot on David, been one of those weeks. Note to self -fully engage brain before chiming in

What started this in my addled head was cleaning the MAF with a eye towards removing PCV gasses. With the airflow following the path that it is it was not adding up that you would deal with that. Dirt/Dust certainly but not PCV gasses

 

Jim, don't clean your MAF more than once a year if that often. The resistors are sensitive. It takes a long time (4+ years) for a MAF to get dirty unless the airbox isn't sealed properly or it's collecting atomized oil from an over oiled filter.

Coincidentally, I just bought a 1989 Mustang GT for my fiancee as a suprise birthday gift. It was running okay for a 22 year old car. I pulled the airbox and the MAF to find that the filter wasn't seated correctly and there was dirt on the MAF. I pulled it did a gentle wipe with 95% alcohol and a q-tip. Q-tip was black and the resistors were shiny. I put the MAF back in and lit it off. The idle cleaned right-up and it gave back some butt-dyno felt torque. Engine spins up smoother too. Them two little wires make a HUGE difference.

Unless I missed my guess EVERY MAF on EVERY CAR is going to be AFTER the filter. They measure the temperature, density, and approximate volume of the air coming into the intake all things that are DRASTICALLY different after they pass through a filtering element. The MAF should be the last sensor that air goes by before entering the throttle body so the computer can better calculate needed fuel for the mixture in the cylinder. Guess I did learn something about cars working on all of those Fords... LOL.

 

Best thing is to make sure the filter isn't over-oiled. This is very easy to do with the K&N filters. They are so thin that the oil tends to puddle a bit and not get evenly distributed.

Guys I know who still run the K&N's will use a shop rag/paper towel to blot off the filter after oiling. Way to easy to over do them.

 

Yeah the spray is circut board cleaner. Generally effective. I prefer to use the q-tips as they give some extra effective cleaning. But, as I said, be VERY careful and use little force. Cleaning the MAF every time is too much. You should inspect it every time but don't clean it unless it is dirty. It shouldnt get dirty so long as the air filter is in place properly and if using an oiled filter the filter isnt over oiled.

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I'm not a fan of the Q-tip method. Too much risk.

 

The resistors that are wired into the MAF can have their respective linings corroded if hit with solvent on a regular basis (i.e. multiple times a year). If nothing else it's just a waste of time and effort being that it takes the aforementioned items to get one dirty.

I've never looked at a Justa's MAF. If you can't pull the actual sensor from the tube you will have to stick with spraying it with the circut cleaner.

I understand. If you don't know what you are doing you run a HUGE risk of breaking a resistor off the post using that method. I've just been doing that for years with various Fords I've had. So I know how to deal with it.

Same reason I'm not willing to Seafoam my car for fear of hydrolocking it because I don't have any experience doing that.