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mass air flow sensor problem

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Old Aug 15, 2015 | 05:56 PM
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Default mass air flow sensor problem

hello everyone can anyone help me i have a 94 ls 400 and i spray brake cleaner on it call myself cleanin it now my car want go but if i let it run sittin steal it does fine until i hit the gas it cut off do any one have any ideal wht i need to do
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Old Aug 15, 2015 | 11:30 PM
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There is no cleaning the MAF sensor on the 1'st gen cars. Its a Karman vortex type sensor. Likely you ruined it.
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Old Aug 15, 2015 | 11:36 PM
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you ruined the AFM (not MAF), you need a new one. Do not clean it with any solvents.
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Old Aug 15, 2015 | 11:47 PM
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_flow_sensor
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Old Aug 16, 2015 | 01:32 AM
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Thank You for the information best believe I will do some research before I try that again
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Old Aug 16, 2015 | 08:24 AM
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Yea, you need a new AFM now. Dont feel bad, you're not the first one () to do that. As we all know, these are hard to find at the junkyards. If you need to drive the car you can unplug the AFM and it will run. Just dont run it unplugged too long or you'll ruin the plugs, O2 sensors, and the cats.
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Old Aug 17, 2015 | 02:19 AM
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An AFM is a MAF. Its just a nomenclature thing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_flow_meter
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Old Aug 17, 2015 | 06:46 AM
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Smile Not quite true

Not too impressed with that Wikimedia reference; numerous misinformation there. The objective is to operate the engine at maximum fuel efficiency, which is the stoichiometric point: 14. 7 units of air to 1 unit of fuel (by mass, not weight). Early attempts to do this in computerized engines used a rather simple vortex pressure difference to calculate the amount of air going to the engine. But that was not totally accurate, because the MASS of the air is affected by temperature and humidity, which are not factored into the readings from vortex devices.

The MAF sensor reading is affected by those variables, and gives a more accurate measurement of the air mass, so the ECU can maintain maximum engine efficiency, and minimize the amount of work the cats have to do to scrub the NOx emissions. So, there actually is a difference.
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Old Aug 17, 2015 | 12:51 PM
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Volume of air is affected by the same factors. In the manual it says it measures volume and that may not be quite true either.
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Old Aug 17, 2015 | 01:49 PM
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Originally Posted by dicer
An AFM is a MAF. Its just a nomenclature thing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_flow_meter
That article is factually incorrect in mutliple ways, it is pending deletion.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_flow_sensor

There's a huge difference between a Karman Vortex AFM (used on 1st gen LS400s) and a Hot-wire MAF ('95+). The entire theory of operation is very very different. To say that the difference is simply nomenclature is totally wrong.
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Old Aug 19, 2015 | 12:51 PM
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Good news.
I asked and an aerospace engineer answered.
He said for a hot wire versus a Carmen vortex sensor that they are using different properties of the air to infer what the mass flow was. Hot wire measures the forced convection property of airflow, Carmen uses the frequency of oscillations which are proportional to air flow.

So they are one and the same as far as what is measured. Change in moisture content and or density temp etc. would equally effect either type of sensor, one from the change in convection and the other in the change of frequency.
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Old Aug 20, 2015 | 11:28 AM
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Originally Posted by dicer
Good news.
I asked and an aerospace engineer answered.
He said for a hot wire versus a Carmen vortex sensor that they are using different properties of the air to infer what the mass flow was. Hot wire measures the forced convection property of airflow, Carmen uses the frequency of oscillations which are proportional to air flow.

So they are one and the same as far as what is measured. Change in moisture content and or density temp etc. would equally effect either type of sensor, one from the change in convection and the other in the change of frequency.
so we come back around to the point of this whole discussion which is DON'T USE SOLVENTS ON KARMAN VORTEX AFMS (found on '89-94 LS400s)
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Old Aug 21, 2015 | 01:33 PM
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Originally Posted by dicer
Good news.
I asked and an aerospace engineer answered.
He said for a hot wire versus a Carmen vortex sensor that they are using different properties of the air to infer what the mass flow was. Hot wire measures the forced convection property of airflow, Carmen uses the frequency of oscillations which are proportional to air flow.

So they are one and the same as far as what is measured. Change in moisture content and or density temp etc. would equally effect either type of sensor, one from the change in convection and the other in the change of frequency.
Who's Carmen?
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Old Aug 23, 2015 | 02:47 AM
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Originally Posted by Hiroshi12
Who's Carmen?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmen_Electra

Yeah I goofed some spelling
sorry.
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Old Nov 29, 2021 | 03:24 AM
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Default Air cleaner

Let’s keep this simple if you make sure your air filter is recent. YOU SHOULD BE GOOD. AS THAT WILL PROTECT THE SENSOR. I’ve been reading an I DO want to do a MAF cleaning with the CRC CLEANER. Still unsure if I want to f**+ things up.


Is this what Us 1UZFE users want to use on our engines?

Last edited by BMR95LS400; Nov 29, 2021 at 03:32 AM. Reason: Ls400
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