My Frankencar intake arrived yesterday morning. I installed it right away with no problems and the car ran fine all day. Then at night it suddenly died on the road, no heavy acceleration or anything. My friend and I pushed it into a parking lot and tried to troubleshoot. The car would start, run for a couple seconds, then sputter out. I remembered reading about 2k2 maf failures on the org before, so I disconnected the electrical connector to the maf. Lucky for me, the Maxima started and I was able to limp home.
Now, I'm a poor college student without a reliable vehicle right now. I need to know a few things from you guys.
1. If I reinstall the oem airbox, will I likely be able to get the maf replaced for free? I am still under warrenty.
2. If the dealer says no, how much will it cost to replace the maf?
3. Is there any cheaper, alternate source to get a maf sensor than my local dealership?
It really sucks when your first mod blows up in your face like this. Any advice will be appreciated.

 

do number one..once they replace it..mention TSB about computer reprogramming.

 

Return everything back to stock and take it to the dealer...Play dumb about the failure and they should replace the MAF under warranty.

 

see that is why we got shietty service... when we try to deceive the nissan dealer, we get sheitty service... But oh well... do what u got to...

me personally, i messed with it, but left it stock... at least with the stock air box, i dont' get any MAF failure or SES light...

when i go to a car show, i just pop the intake back on...

 

The dealer wouldn't replace one of my buddies MAF's because his bolts where worn from removing it. They tried that on me but luckily I have sort of a relationship with my service rep and he replaced it but said next time he wouldn't. So if it blows again I'll just take in the TSB

 

My dealer replaced a customers MAF under warranty with his Frankencar still connected.

They do seem to take a good business approach: They would rather keep their customers happy and have them come back and buy another car rather then lose them over what amounts to a few dollars for the dealer.

 

If it helps, I will give you $20 for your MAF housing...I want to keep the original housing on the OEM air box. Let me know.

 

is there a TSB for 2000-2001 MAFs? or just for 2002-2003?

 

remove the intake, go back to stock, make sure they give you part #22680-AM600....you won't have intake problems with that part...

 

what everyone else said is fine, but if worse comes to worse, and they won't cover it, then the sensor that fails costs $75 and can be purchased via DAVEB. that is of course, a last case scenario. the dealer will most likely charge for a new maf housing/sensor/etc.. aka an arm and a leg plus more.

good luck

 

Did you have the K&N filter or Apexi filter on your intake when the MAF blew?

 

I had the Apexi on when the MAF failed. I suspect it may have been vibration that caused this to happen. Anyways, I'm gonna take it in today and see what happens. I had to break one of the plastic screws that holds the ram air thinmg in place to remove it, so hopefully they won't notice the black metal screw i'm gonna put in its place. Also, I'll call another dealership and price just a MAF (22680-AM600) to see what one runs for.

 

I just called a couple of dealerships. I was stunned to find out they want over $500 for that tiny, cheaply made part. I have to wait until tomorrow to get it looked at. The tech didn't even know what MAF meant. When I explained it he said "oh yeah, the airflow meter." He claimed that he'd never heard of them going bad on 2k2's. Then he tried to say it wasn't under warranty because I had to disconnect the MAF to get my car home. I got an appointment with them, but it sounds like I'm gonna catch some grief and maybe a denial of service. For those of you who are experienced with this sort of thing, how would you reccomend I approach the situation and what rights do I have regarding my warrenty? I don't want them to BS me then charge me just to look at a car they won't fix.

 

2 ways....and everyone will agree

1)play stupid...."i dont' know what happend..i drove it and it shut off, i turned it on and it wouldn't stay on, i called a friend and he told me that it was teh airflow meter and to disconnect it, that's the only way i got home, so it was damaged before i even touched it..... what kinda car is this that i get stranded.....i dont' really appreciate this quality"
play completely dumb and they should assume you didn't do anything...if THAT dont' work.....do number 2....

2) buy the SENSOR ONLY!!! i believe i mentioned this already. it's the sensor that goes bad. and it's $75 from DAVEB, not 500. like i said, they would charge you for the new meter, which yeah, it's 500, but it's not the whole meter that's bad, JUST THE SENSOR. AGAIN, $75. read above, i already mentioned this.

 

Sweet, I found another dealership that was much more cooperative. They didn't ask if I'd done anything to cause the problem, but now I have to leave my car till Monday when the new MAF arrives. If any of you live in the Richmond, VA area. take your vehicle to Victory Nissan for repairs.
I'm starting to wonder if waiting for the Apexi was worth it, since my maf blew on the first day. Hopefully it makes a tiny bit more hp as some people have claimed.

 

From what I have seen, most blown MAFs happened while using the Apexi filter.

Both Polo, Nt2shbby are 100% correct.