Clean Your MAF
The Green Grundel
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 1,323
Likes: 0
From: MN
Would polishing the throttle body help at all? I'm going to be cleaning it with the MAF this weekend and i'm wondering how much that would help. I stalled yesterday at a stoplight and almost got hit by a dumb impatient ***** on her cellphone, now i'm all freaked out about driving it.
Cleaning the throttle body is basic maintance.
It removes carbon that is left when teh engine is turned off and the burnt air has no where to go. So it fills up the intake manifld and throttle body.
It causes low idle/stalling ,sluggish throttle , slightly reduced performance caused by turbulance associated to carbon build up.
Cleaning the MAF will show increased power , and milage by making the engine work more efficiently since it now knows exactly how much air is coming into the engine so it can add fuel accordingly .Same as trying to add 2 lbs of sugar to a cake instead of 2 table spoons.
Well , yeah ?!?!?!?
But their is no "IT" as you mention. That is a combination of maintance items so no one thing can be the one to bring a conclusive result because of association.
So , hopefully this will give some of you some insight as to what is really happening and why and dispel the rumours of untold power gains from teh same people who have intake pipes breathing hot air inside their engine bays.
It removes carbon that is left when teh engine is turned off and the burnt air has no where to go. So it fills up the intake manifld and throttle body.
It causes low idle/stalling ,sluggish throttle , slightly reduced performance caused by turbulance associated to carbon build up.
Cleaning the MAF will show increased power , and milage by making the engine work more efficiently since it now knows exactly how much air is coming into the engine so it can add fuel accordingly .Same as trying to add 2 lbs of sugar to a cake instead of 2 table spoons.
All I can say is that cleaned MAF sensor + cleaned throttle body + new spark plugs + SRT Intake with ECU is giving me a good 5mpg or so better. It's a significant difference.
But their is no "IT" as you mention. That is a combination of maintance items so no one thing can be the one to bring a conclusive result because of association.
So , hopefully this will give some of you some insight as to what is really happening and why and dispel the rumours of untold power gains from teh same people who have intake pipes breathing hot air inside their engine bays.
Last edited by skperformance; Apr 26, 2009 at 10:06 PM.
Thread Starter
Pole Position
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 376
Likes: 0
From: Washington
Anything on the MAF, dust, a slight amount of oil and the MAF is prevented from doing its job, which causes the engine to run lean. This unit is very simple to remove and clean. Unplug the connector, remove the two Phillips head screws, carefully pull out the MAF, squirt some cleaner on it, wait a few seconds until the cleaner evaporates, and re-install it. Before there was a cleaner especially made for the purpose, we used spray carb cleaner, I have talked to guys who used brake clean with good results. Anything that doesn't leave a residue.
The whole point of this thread is to make GS users aware that this simple, quick and cheap procedure can fix a condition that can go un-noticed for a long time and make a big difference in fuel economy and power.
The whole point of this thread is to make GS users aware that this simple, quick and cheap procedure can fix a condition that can go un-noticed for a long time and make a big difference in fuel economy and power.
(just to expand it a bit more for most to understand what and why)
The more air that passes over the filament (wire) of the maf , the cooler it gets which means the more fuel will be used.
Adding dirt over the maf will stop the filament from being cooled thus the engine thinks less air is coming in causing it to not add as much fuel and then run rich.
As mentioned before ,the ecu will see the values and use a heat cycle to burn off the dirt by itself. You can clean it and beat the cycle but it will happen anyway. Also mentioned uless you have some reason to clean it like a over oiled filter it will look after itself.
So as this is good for a quick boost in performance , so is disconnecting the battery.
The over all value of the idea is valid but so is washing your car in the rain. It is still going to happen with or without you.
A more valid point would be to replace the maf every 150 000miles as the readings are no longer as accurate as they once were.
My feelings are to replace the coolant temp sensor, the maf and both pre o2 sensors for maximum performance and milage as they are the most important variable sensors on a car. They also all wear out and do not throw codes as the ecu will try and compensate for them ageing.
The more air that passes over the filament (wire) of the maf , the cooler it gets which means the more fuel will be used.
Adding dirt over the maf will stop the filament from being cooled thus the engine thinks less air is coming in causing it to not add as much fuel and then run rich.
As mentioned before ,the ecu will see the values and use a heat cycle to burn off the dirt by itself. You can clean it and beat the cycle but it will happen anyway. Also mentioned uless you have some reason to clean it like a over oiled filter it will look after itself.
So as this is good for a quick boost in performance , so is disconnecting the battery.
The over all value of the idea is valid but so is washing your car in the rain. It is still going to happen with or without you.
A more valid point would be to replace the maf every 150 000miles as the readings are no longer as accurate as they once were.
My feelings are to replace the coolant temp sensor, the maf and both pre o2 sensors for maximum performance and milage as they are the most important variable sensors on a car. They also all wear out and do not throw codes as the ecu will try and compensate for them ageing.
Thread Starter
Pole Position
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 376
Likes: 0
From: Washington
That's a combination of city and freeway. Strictly higway miles, I got 23.5 at 75 MPH before cleaning the MAF. Don't know if cleaning the MAF will affect the highway mileage. Cleaning the MAF made a difference on this particular car.
Pole Position
Joined: Aug 2008
Posts: 261
Likes: 0
From: dubai
i cleaned mine before maf and TB and it was big diff. smoother idle better response and better fuel milage
before cleaning it my idle was around 500rpm sometimes 400rpm and shakes crazy i have to say it oil and dirt was blocking like 5% of TB soo always i loose battery coz no enough rpm to charge it i also changed the battey for nothing
who say thats if your idle low i know automaticlly the TB will open more but what if its blocked with oil or greasy dirt
before cleaning it my idle was around 500rpm sometimes 400rpm and shakes crazy i have to say it oil and dirt was blocking like 5% of TB soo always i loose battery coz no enough rpm to charge it i also changed the battey for nothing
who say thats if your idle low i know automaticlly the TB will open more but what if its blocked with oil or greasy dirt
Driver
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 142
Likes: 3
From: Texas
I saw that too. Went ahead and did it anyways. Too soon to tell if it made a difference, but certainly nothing went wrong so far. Somewhere in these forums I saw an explanation of the different types of MAFs, and I think it said the GS400 was one of the kinds that was ok to clean.
Its perfectly safe to clean 2GS hotwire MAF. But in reality, unless you're running a K&N or another oiled filter, you should never have to clean it. It is true that some tiny dust/dirt particles will pass through any filter, but K&N filter will cause your intake piping and MAF to be covered with a thin film of oil, and this dirt will stick to the oil. And with a hotwire MAF, that wire heats up to 400 degrees, and that oil and dirt really bake onto it. When I had the K&N for about a year, and I took the MAF out, there was a visible buildup of dirt on it that looked like ear wax.
