Well, curiosity got the best of me. Took the one that crapped out on me apart. I'm not amazed...

With side door off:


With little bottom door off too:


Close up with both doors off:


Close up of what I probably fried when I blew it. It's the part of the sensor that gathers outside flow and send it to the circuit board for "analysis".


It puked...(removed the gel coating)

 

Circuit board removed:


Close up of bare circuit board:


Overall, I had fun with this. It definitely doesn't look like it's worth the $400 plus bucks though, that's fur sure.

 

you should save it.. a new circuit board and some duct tape and its good to go









thanks for the pics btw

 

That is absolutely fascinating, Mike. (Seriously, I'm not being sarcastic.) I didn't expect to see a circuit board inside that thing. For some reason I was just expecting another little sensor, like the IAT.

Wow. Amazing pictures.

Can you actually tell where the sensor disconnected from the circuitry when it "blew"?

 

Nice

 

400 bucks ripoff

 

Tell me about it!

 

Interesting. Nice little PCB there. Didn't expect the sensor to be that complex.

 

wow that is pretty complex! ive always wanted to see inside one of those.

 

Very cool pics! Makes my head spin when I think back to throttle rod carbs with vacuum secondaries acting up. Attached a shoe lace to the secondaries until I rebuilt the carb.

 

Ive done this before.

 

$100 2k MAF FTW.

 

I'm sort of curious to see how the circuitry compares to a 2k or 2k1 MAF's circuit board...

 

Pics? Didn't think so.....who cares if you've done it before or not.

 

I used to supply the plastic housing for the Toyota MAF. Yes, it takes a lot to make the MAF. But for sure it is not worth $400. Less than $100 is more like it. Isold the housing with the terminals on it for $1.50.

Then Denso puts in the PCB and the potting (that's the gooey). I have seen the assembly of the MAF in Denso Athens, TN. The MAF we made were made obsolete just 2 years ago.

Toyota uses a new generation MAF. They are being made in Japan for now with plans to make it in Mexico.

 

Hence it is critical for that sensor which is exposed to the IA to be clean. The circuitry should last. But then again, just like any failure, it will happen for so many pieces you make. That's the only thing that is predictable.

 

I believe at this point in Nissan's parts supply line, they are identical. That's why this IAT swap works.

If you got your hands on an original 2000-2001 MAF, that would show the difference.

 

If the only thing you have to change is the thermositer from the 02-03 on a 5th gen one than shouldn't the circuit board be pretty identical?

 

Not necessarily. With computers, all that matters is I/O (input/output). You can use different parts, designs, and approaches to get the same I/O. And as far as I can tell, the IAT may not even be connected to the MAF circuitry at all (in terms of whether that data is processed on that board) - just a straight pass through:

IAT->clips on MAF case->connector->wiring->ECU
vs.
IAT->clips on MAF case->MAF circuitry->connector->wiring->ECU

In other words, the 2k1 ECU knows to ignore IAT input from the MAF connector but the 2k2+ ECU knows to process IAT input from that same connector.

Just guesses.

 

If the 2000-2001 MAF connectors are identical, that means the connector was originally designed to support more signals than it actually used... which means Nissan was proactively planning to move the IAT there.

Yeah... lots of guesses.