1997 I30t 155K miles

So I read the motorvate information on cleaning this thing and did it. Actually I took it one step further and actually removed the throttle body & cleaned it really well. I was able to see inside the intake too & it looks awfully nasty in there, (but I'm not about to take off the intake with out some new gaskets & stuff planned out in advance for time & documentation for y'all).

Anyway, the Motorvate write up talks about accessing just the front of the intake to clean it. I noticed the there are only 4 bolts that hold it in place, so after I removed the MAF and related plumbing, all I had to do was take out the 4 bolts, disconnect a couple of hoses, electrical connectors & release the throttle cables.

The back side of the throttle body was absolutely hard-coated in carbon! It cleaned up nicely with some brake parts cleaner, a tooth brush and a rag. I had to do some serous scraping to get it cleaned.

In the process however, I had placed the MAF on a ledge. Somehow it got knocked over and it dropped about 3 feet to concrete. Once I hooked everything back up, it threw the CEL and the code was 0100 (MAF).
Crapola!

Nothing looked damaged in the air chamber and the little sensor wires are still connected.

Just for giggles, I took it back out, looked it over and even put an Ohm-meter on the contacts to see if it showed an open circuit. It registered resistance between all contacts but I do not know if that is a good indicator of MAF status, nor what the readings should have been. I also checked vacuum lines for leaks & any missed connections.

I disconnected the battery for a few hours too and still had the CEL when I cranked it again.

Then I disconnected the computer for a few hours and it still threw the CEL.

It runs fine however and for now...I'm just going to see if the CEL will go out on its own, but I'm afraid I screwed the MAF up when I dropped it. The local parts store wants a little less than $500 for a new one.

Learned:

Remove the throttle body for a more thorough cleaning.
Do not drop the MAF.
Do not drop the MAF.

Few questions:

...is there a test that can be done on the MAF to verify its status?

...if the MAF is bad, wouldn't it show up in how the engine runs...or does the computer use a "standard" program instead of reading the correct air status from the bad MAF?

...if the MAF is bad, is there an issue with grabbing a junkyard unit and will the Maxima unit work from 96-2001? IF not, what years will?

...is there any other source I should look to for a replacement?

Thanks n advance my I30 brethren....

 

Here's how to test it.
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....light=MAF+test

But, it's probably easier to go here --> www.car-part.com, less than 50 shipped.

 

Thanks Nmex!

The terminals it refers to...are these terminals in the relay compartment, on the actual MAF or somewhere else?

Thanks again....

 

On the sensor (female connector.)

 

BTW just to let you know dont use brake parts cleaner on the TB, it allegedly has some teflon coating on it that will be eaten away if u use any cleaner except TB specific cleaner.... or so someone here said once

 

Disconnecting the battery or ecu for a few hours won't clear the codes, it takes several days. If you turned the key on at any point w/maf disconnected............ well there's your 0100 code.

 

hey i have a 2000 and sum1 dropped my maf, i bought one for $110 at replacementautoparts.com i found the site on ebay anyway i got the maf like 2-3 days after i payed for it...i had a good experience you could try them out if u want to....peace.....

 

maf is a tricky son of a ***** its damaged very easily and putting it back the wrong way can damage it easly also. Howerver dropping it isnt very good either.

You say your car runs fine? Hows your accleration? Do you feel a slowness in gear shifting? and do you notice any random clunks when your car shifts gears.

 

Thanks for the note. It's actually running better now than before. Before I did the cleaning, it was sluggish off the line and seemed to lay down when approaching redline. It also seemed to take more gas to make it downshift.

Now it is hard charging off the line & shifts great.

I'm probably close to 30 on/off cycles, so I'll see if it clears by itself in a couple more days.

Thanks fore the note about brake parts cleaner. I'll use the right stuff for cleaning the IAC (soon).

Thanks also for the additional testing info.... I'll get back on here in a few days & update.

 

I now have the code for MAF but waiting to see if it goes away sometime ... as of now, i feel all the symptoms of bad MAF, slow sluggish acceleration, not-so-good city mileage (abt 18 or so) but get abt 400 miles on 16 gallons on total highway ... just waiting ... i earlier had bad O2 sensors, and i just replaced them (front) both finally and now it's the MAF ...

i looked at the car-part.com but was unable to identify the part name in the list ... any help ?!?

Thanks,

 

My light cleared itself on Monday!!! It's also running great... I'm going to do the O2 sensors this weekend, hopefully. Maybe I'll clean out the IAC valve too.

I also get about 400 miles per tank in mixed driving and a bit more if I let it go till the low fuel light comes on. If I'm doing all highway and taking it easy, I'll get 450 no problem.

 

B TW, AutoZone and Advance both sell spray botrtles of THROTTLE BODY CLEANER. Ditto on not using Brake Cleaner.

 

Thanks again. I wasn't able to get to the front O2 sensors. I just did the rear one and will let the dealer have it for the other 2 in a month or so. Never got around to doing the IAC either but maybe this week...

 

Update ... now that I have two new O2 sensors before cat, the mileage went up reasonably ... got 28.6 on total highway miles on my trip to Iowa ... excellent I thought ... well, i just started putting premium gas again, been filling it up with the plus last couple months ...

but the code for MAF is still there

 

Occasionally, a place that will read the code for free (AutoZone, Advance, etc.) will reset the code for you. They're hit & miss around here for who will & won't but if you can get one to reset it, it will tell you if you still have a bad MAF or a maybe a vac. leak you need to locate.

I don't think MAF's go bad on these cars typically...or maybe I just got lucky after dropping mine, that it was ok...

 

A small tumble like that can definitely toast a MAF.. I've heard several people confirm this.

 

I HAD A SIMILAR PROBLEM I CLEANED THE THROTTLE BODY AND PUT BACK TOGETHER WHEN I TURNED ON THE CAR IT WAS IDLING AT 1000RPM AND THE SERVICE ENGINE WENT ON. iF ANYBODY HAS ANY SUGGESTIONS.

 

Vacuum line not connected? Electrical connector not fully seated?

Pull the codes to narrow down possibilities.

What car? Miles? Year? Location?

Toss me a frikkin bone here.

AND TURN OFF THE CAPS LOCK!!!!!!!!!!

 

03 I35 MIAMI, FL I DON'T REMEMBER THE CODE BUT IT SAID IDLE CONTROL OR SOME THING LIKE THAT

 

65000 MILES

 

Good luck with that.