TimW

iTrader: (6)

Ed is stuck in Birmingham, car died on the side of the road. Car is at the closest dealer, they are saying the code thrown is the blown MAF. He's got the frankencar intake. No way to swap now, its at the shop. Has he got a chance? or is it a $450 maf and labor bill for him?

BigDogJonx

iTrader: (7)

Probably no chance. Nissan Service will log it and even if he comes back they will somehow always point to that.

Interesting that you mention that Frankencar seems to have been the culprit.

If I was in Bama I would help out, but I am not, and Yes my parents live there and that is why I got bama plates to avoid the tickets up here in MD.

Dixit

TimW

iTrader: (6)

because of warranty.. but there seems to be a trend..

Jeff92se

iTrader: (82)

If they balk, ask them exactly what the intake did to cause the maf malfunction. According to the law, they must prove that the mod was in direct cause in the maf failure. And since I hear these maf's fail w/ the stock intake, ask them how that could happen w/ the stock intake. I would arm myself with a Nissan TSB on the issue if you can get your hands on it. Alldata might have the number

I know the dealer will try to BS him if they blame the intake. You need them to be very specific on the cause(ie.. and in writing) and then maybe call 1800nissan1 or maybe persue small claims.

Colonel

Why is everyone assuming that the FC is the culprit? PR has a straight tube also....that is really the only difference right? A straight tube is basically a straight tube right? Also is his car a 2002 or earlier?

Jeff92se

iTrader: (82)

Probably not the part the dealer is concerned with. It's the fact that the aftermarket intake uses an oiled cotton gauze filter or that the intake doesn't have the stock airbox config.

Colonel

I am not trying to protect FC..but doesnt Berk and PR and FC all use K&N? Plus people that use it outside of a straight tube, or am I just confused?

That is also why I would like to know if its a 02 or earlier. Doesnt the TSB apply only to the 02's? You know its Nissans way of wording. The TSB for the brakes says for the "2000" Nissan Maxima. I had to fight to get it done because of wording.

Jeff92se

iTrader: (82)

Consider this, all of those intakes would probably throw a red flag at the dealer. Not because of something specfic about the filter but because the oem airbox is no longer there. They could probably care less about the maf to TB connection.

[maxi-overdose]

iTrader: (3)

few possible causes:
1.the midpipe?
2.the air quality filtered by monster flow does not meet the requirement of our MAF sensor.


I left my stock air box inside my trunk with all the necessary tools after the install of berk intake....hope I will never have to take it out and use it.



I think I have read that a PR CAI with blown MAF somewhere.

Colonel

Right I know that Nissans way of thinking is that if its different thats the problem. I know also poor Ed probably has no prayer other than replacing the MAF at a high $$$.

BUT...was the failure actually caused by the intake or is it a faulty....you know the facts. Not Nissan derived information mind you.... That is what I am worried more about. I have a 2K1 and have been getting antsy about the failures that "all of a sudden" have started showing up. Would a "reset" have helped him at all...I have read all about the MAF in 3rd, 4th and 5th gens. But it seems that more have failed lately...in the 5th gens area. When was the redesign done...anybody know?

Jeff92se

iTrader: (82)

Not likely as the midpipe is after the maf.

Again probably not likely. Maybe if the filter is grossly overoiled then maybe.

But you are assuming the intake is at fault in the first place.

Jeff92se

iTrader: (82)

I've seen more failures in the 3.5 VQs or it seems like it. I would imagine that Nissan cheaped out on their mafs or the one they are using for the 3.5 motor is extremely sensitive. Again they could be failing for reasons not related to the aftermarket intake.

[maxi-overdose]

iTrader: (3)

MAF measures the amount of air flow and cleaness of the air and that's why I am assuming the intake as the cause of its failure. Midpipe is after the MAF but it does increase amount of air flow...

monster flow filters are not oiled I assumed...


yes...I am assuming the intake is the cause b/c most of the cases on the org were reported with an intake installed...few with overoiled drop-ins and fewer with stock paper filter.

Jeff92se

iTrader: (82)

Ah please explain exactly how a Mass Air Flow sensor has the ability to determine how "clean" the air coming into the engine is. Answer, it doesn't. It uses a heated element to determine how much air is being used by the engine.

And how does the midpipe that "increases" airflow going to affect the maf's function in any way?? Answer, none. Becuase anything that is going to have a detrimental effect on the maf has already damaged it. (if in fact it's something intake related)

It could be something else, LIKE EXCESS VIBRATION from mounting the maf differently vs how the stock airbox is mounted.

Let's get the facts straight here.

genix

are these problems exclusive to the 3.5 engine? or do maf's blow with intakes on the 3.0 too?

Colonel

I have often wondered about this as a possiblity myself. BUT...how could it be fixed? On mine I did not connect the "tubes" together 100%..Left enough slack that no metal parts touched each other. I have also thought about putting a rubber type mount to keep it from "moving/swaying" but have not come up with much.

How do the 3rd/4th gens attach the cone filter assemblies? How is the PR "connected"?

Jeff92se

iTrader: (82)

Ever note how the stock airbox in supported by rubber isolation bushings?

Colonel

Yup..thats what made me start wonderin'....

JSpecMax

I have a 3.0 I30, and my MAF is dead as a doorknob. I gotta limp my car over to the dealership now, because of my stupid CAI. I put the stock box back on, and thats how it will stay. And oh yeah, along with a service engine soon light, im now restricted to 2400 rpm. ****ty huh? this 50 mile trip to closest dealer should be fun.

genix

at 2400 rpms, tho, at least you save some gas...

Tony Fernandes

Is it possible the MAF was mishandled, dropped, etc, during the installation of the Frankencar? And it's just now giving up?

Tony

Dany

iTrader: (1)

So you guys don't think it is the K&N filter that is the cause of the MAF blowing out?

I know Steve has Apexi filter now, I am wondering if it will prevent those MAF failures.

Colonel

What makes up your CAI?

Jeff92se

iTrader: (82)

I could have been but I doubt it. Who really knows why they are going bad. We might never know because for one, the stupid Nissan dealer just automatically blames the intake for no good reason(ie.. no evidence to back up their claim)

bill99gxe

iTrader: (1)

Nissan, cheapening out? No, you must be kidding......

Padsy

iTrader: (1)

1 Blown MAF.....

TimW

iTrader: (6)

Ed got *really* lucky.. I'll let him tell you guys when he gets home..

Colonel

Glad to hear it went well for him!

[maxi-overdose]

iTrader: (3)

So seems like the MAF sensor is only used to determine amount of air consumed by the engine, but not the quality of the air....I have no solid evidence to prove that the MAF-s has the ability to inspect the air quality and I only heard from people talking about this feature of MAF-s. One thing I am sure is....if u ran ur car without an air filter. CEL will show up and does that mean the amount of air is increased and therefore it assumes that filter is not present or it can be the quality of air is bad and it is detected by something? (the closest item that I can think of is MAF-s)

About the increase of air flow....one of the .org members got his car stalled after the intake installed...went to the dealer and they received error message of too much air flow. This is something that I dun really understand...why there is such error signal implemented into our ECU.

Jeff92se

iTrader: (82)

Yes, MAF only measures the amount of air ingested by the engine.

And consider this. All these guys running nos, turbos and superchargers are ingesting anywhere from 30-75% more air flow through their mafs(they are using the stock maf). So how could a dealer get a "too much airflow" error(if there even is such a thing), code(on a normally aspirated engine)?? If that were true, there is no way these guys could run boost and not get the code right? Of course. So I think you are oversimplifing the "bad maf" explaination from the dealer. Or the dealer doesn't know diddly-squiddly about cars(which is another good possiblity)

[maxi-overdose]

iTrader: (3)

it can be one of the many causes if u overoiled the filter. I believe there are many reasons that kill the MAF-s. We have no clues....the only thing we see here is that intakes with midpipe tend to have greater MAF-s failure than others. (but doesnt mean a MAF-s from a bone stock airbox will live forever...we've seen a few cases)


jeff: thx for the post

dwapenyi

iTrader: (3)

all this MAF stuff is getting me a bit nervous. But, for the most part my car has had a CAI for 100,000 miles and a K&N. No MAF problems. I recently converted to a Hybrid. I did not bother to use the little bracket that secures the POP filter to the shock tower. I figured that the PR pipe and the MAF was strong enough to hold it. It did not occur to me that enegine vibration may cause problems. I'm installing that bracket tonight.


Despite all that, my car has 130,000 miles on it. 100,000 of those miles with aftermarket intakes. Still the same MAF.

Maybe quality control has suffered in the 3.5 VQ's MAFs. VWs already are notorious for losing MAFs.

What is the root of all this?

DW

Jeff92se

iTrader: (82)

If you do install the bracket, I suggest using a rubber bushing on each side of the bracket to reduce vibration transmissions to the maf. It's something I should probably do also. I suppose any soft rubber bushing would work. Even cutting a little black swaybar bushing in half might work well.

dwapenyi

iTrader: (3)

Well, the MAF is mounted indirectly to the engine, so to speak. Using the bracket to secure it to the shock tower, I would assume that the shock tower doesn't experience any vibration, well, not that kind to kill MAFs. Shouldn't I just have as solid a connection as possible to the shock tower, so the shock tower can greatly reduce any vibrations induced by the engine?

DW

Jeff92se

iTrader: (82)

The maf is pretty well isolated from the engine in the oem config by the rubber midpipe. Also the silicone hoses that attach the aftermarket midpipes should protect from vibrations fairly well also. Now you would think the chassis might not vibrate but why do does the interior have sound deadening? Because the whole chassis has vibration from the road. It may/may not be as bad as other vibrations but if you can find some cheap rubber bushings, why not just do it and ease your worries?(if vibrations are infact a cause)

djPlayboy

ive got a friend with a 2k2 stock nota mod atall changed the air filter out when the car had about 7k on it now it has about 9500 on it and its sitting at the dealer**** with a MAF failure

djPlayboy

there go them stars again

TimW

iTrader: (6)

You sure we arent talking about the same guy? He was in Bham, AL today...

dwapenyi

iTrader: (3)

Ahhh, good point. And I have some used up sway bar bushings to boot

DW

djPlayboy

Tim im in Louisiana(close enough) but my friend was still using the nissan air filters as i said he hasnt done anything to it YET for some reason he said hes waiting to hit 20k miles before any mods