When i was looking around for my intake air temperature sensor before i bought the real piece, i opened up my mass air flow tube, and now i think i messed it up( im stupid i know). i read on these forums, and most of their symptoms are like mine. For example, i got up for school,and my car started up perfectly, then when i reversed and got out of my drive way, it died (sucks i know). I tried starting it up and it was reving to 2nd, and 3rd rpms constantly. Now it wont start up. Are these symptoms of the MAF sensor as well, or no? The ECU was reading that it was, but im making sure its my MAF sensor, and not my IANT sensor.

thanks guys

EDIT: Would the mass air flow sensor spray cleaner, would that fix this situation?

 

By '2nd and 3rd' RPMs you mean 2000 and 3000?

Have you checked for codes?

What do you mean you 'opened up your MAF tube'? Pulled the top off, or just removed the intake plumbing?

IANT? You mean IAT? A bad/missing IAT will not cause any major driveability issues.

 

yes 2000 and 3000

yes sorry, IAT sensor. You know, on top of the MAF tube, theres a square area, at the side i opened it up, and it was very hard to open, it felt like it was not suppose to ever be open. It had thin strips of metal that standed out... which i believe is the sensor.. so now i need a MAF sensor

i got 04 01 which is the maf sensor... and another one for the intake air temperature sensor but i replaced that, i havent restarted my ECU yet since my car wont start from the MAF being damaged...

Can the Mass air flow spray cleaner this situtation?

 

You mean you took out the screws around where the connector plugs in, and yanked that off?


...why? If it felt like it was never supposed to be opened, why did you continue?

Anyway no, that's not the sensor. That's where the connector goes. The sensor is inside the housing.

How would MAF cleaner fix something that you tore apart?

 

it was not any wires, it was the plastic part screwed on the side of it . so i basically need a whole new maf tube huh.

 

I never said anything about wires

Can you take a picture, or make an illustration of that you're talking about? The only screws involved with the MAF are the 4 phillips head that secure on the housing around the pins for the harness connector.

 

I just did the same thing - I saw a video for an 01 and even though it was different I thought it was close enough - stupid stupid. Anyway, I put that side piece back on and the car started and idled OK. Since my original intent was to clean the MAF I went ahead and pulled the intake air assembly apart. When I had it out I pulled that side thing off again to get a better look at was inside - looked like 3 wires that the 3 prongs on the part that was removed made contact with - I put it back together. Then I sprayed the actual MAF filaments with CRC MAF cleaner. I let it sit about 15 minutes to dry and then reinstalled the air intake assembly. I did a few other things with not engine related and about 30 minutes later started it up. Got all that surging and wouldn't idle. Within about 45 seconds the CEL came on. The code was P0100. Did my spraying the filaments screw it up or when I put that side piece on again did I not establish good contact?

 

First, it's great that you searched but the post you responded to was from 2009.

I don't suggest that anyone go through the trouble of cleaning the maf if it is performing well and no check engine lights.

Since you now have driveability problems you will have to get a new maf. Some people have luck with used ones from the junkyard. They are very expensive from the dealer. My opinion is that mafs on the Maxima are extremely sensitive. I had my original maf die on me after installing a cold air intake. After that I got another maf and installed a shortened stock intake system.

 

I saw 2009 and my brain said 2010 AND 4/25 looked just like 3/25 - no freaking idea what I was thinking about -oh, yes - "how bad did I screw up my Max?" And I did have symptoms - bogging under acceleration at certain RPMs sometimes - seemed like a straight forward thing - wrong again.

Update - pulled that side part off again and noticed one of the leads was bent a little. I bent it back and put it back in. Works fine now. I think the cleaning helped too.

 

If it comes back, pm, I have a spare MAF sensor.

My car had ur problems. Cleaned it and it wnet away for a couple weeks. Ended up replacing MAF and IAT. Runs perfect again

 

I did the same thing when i first got my car. Glad im not the only one who did this. But i still have the maf, might bend the prongs in and try it back on the car. I wasnt sure if it was totally broken or not, i bought one off ebay which was a mistake. Maxima.org FTMFW