My MAF died today. Thanks to this wonderful forum, I was able to figure out what happened and limp the car home by unplugging the MAF.

http://www.nissanhelp.com/Ownership/.../NTB03-023.htm

The car has 52,000 miles so it's still under the powertrain warranty, but I think the MAF probably isn't part of that. Can I use this TSB to get it replaced for free? If not I guess I'll go the $89 part route and assemble a franken-MAF.

 

TSBs arent for free parts replacement. The MAF will cost you around 400.00. If you want to drive around with a CEL get the 89.00 one. Good Luck.

 

What kind of advice is that? Drive around with the CEL light on?

Why would you want to do that when you can simply do it right the first time?

DIY! Buy the $89 MAF, swap the IAT sensor from your current MAF sensor (search forum - several threads on the swap), reinstall MAF, reset ECU and drive.

I did this 15,000 miles ago and still NO CEL...

...

 

Like Nismopc said, swapping the IAT from the 2002 MAF to the 2001 MAF will rid you of the CEL.

 

ok now i'm confused.. i just tried to get a new mass air flow sensor. well i kept the old one, just unsrewed the actual sensor itself, put the new one in and the light came on. So when my buddy checked it, he said the code was saying there is no temperature sensor. So i noticed there was no resistor. i took it back thinking that maybe i just got one without it, so i got another one and same thing.. the new ones are not supposed to have it, and the dealer dude said he just needs to reprogram it to read without the resistor. then it should work fine. Well i just put my old one back and it ran the same either way. so i dont know if that means mine was still good? or what. So i just took the new one back and got my money back.

so pretty much if i got the new one, and just put the resistor, the car should work without the light coming back on right?

 

Yes.


The 2001 MAFs that cost $90 (part number ending in 2Y001) do not have the IAT thermistor, while the 2002-2003 MAFs that cost $400 (part numbers ending in AM600 and 6N201), have the IAT thermistor.

If you have a 2002-2003 and want to use the 2Y001 MAF, you need to transfer the IAT from your original AM600 or 6N201 MAF so that you will not get the CEL for the IAT.


More details in the Stickies:

http://forums.maxima.org/showpost.ph...&postcount=155

 

So.. Thats it.. hmm.. cuz when i did the swap.. i didnt feel the difference...
so i was wondering if i should go and get the new one again and just swap the resistor yeah?
will i feel a difference then?

 

Possible that your in limp mode for other reasons? Did you check the codes or just unplug the MAF and drive home? Could be a number of other reasons for this. Get your codes pulled either manually through self or got to parts store and have them pull the codes for free.

What was the sign that your MAF went bad? How'd you know?

Had this limp mode crap occur to me a while back and it was a malfunctioning throttle position switch (not sensor). Stated my throttle pedal postioner was malfuntioning. I reset the ECU and it hasnt done this again in 15k either. Dealer I spoke to afterwards said it must have been a fluke and if it happens again to bring in for diagnostics. Hasnt happened again so...

 

welp.. my car isnt throwing any codes.. i just heard that some people say to try to do it cuz i might feel a difference.. so i did, and it felt better to have my old one than the new one. when i put the new one on, it just threw the code for not having the temp sensor. which is the resistor. so when i put back my old one, it felt better and no cel. so i guess mine was just fine.

 

My sign was that the engine died in traffic. When I tried to restart it it would start, go to the normal idle RPM, then sputter out in about 5 seconds. Unplugging the MAF allowed me to start and drive the car, albeit not being able to go over ~2000 RPM.

I just got back from the Nissan dealer with the 2k1 MAF...guess it's probably worthwhile to get the codes pulled at autozone before I replace the part though.