I don’t have a “check engine” alert. But I was interested in cleaning my mass airflow sensor. I guess after watching the YouTube videos on how simple it is, I wanted to do it. Now my car is a 09 Honda Accord. I am thinking that the sensors has never been cleaned. So my question is would cleaning it cause issues?
Unless you get a Check Engine light with a code indicating a problem with the MAF sensor, let sleeping dogs lay.
Tester
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The way it works, it is heated up above ambient a known number of degrees using an electric heating element. Airflow causes it to loose heat, so to keep it at the same temperature more current has to go through the heating circuit. Therefore the amount of current is directly proportional to the air flow into the engine. If the heating element gets dirty, it is like it is wearing a coat, and doesn’t lose heat as fast. That means not as much current is required, so the computer thinks the air flow is less than it actually is. As long as all you do is clean off the “coat” of debris on the heating element, that should do nothing but good things. However that part is very delicate and is easy to damage. So I wouldn’t do it on a whim, only if you are certain it isn’t reading accurately. Typically that would show up as a fuel trim problem.
I cleaned mine, not needed, just something I wanted to do, I bought a can of MAF sensor cleaner, got me to thinking 100 k miles later maybe I will do it again.
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Do you have any problems, such as stumbling, hesitation, etc.?
If no, I’d leave it alone
No well I do experience a little hesitation.
Clean the throttle body while you’re at it.
I’m on the fence with this one
I’ve run into a few vehicles that DID have a hesitation, due to the mass airflow sensor, and without fault codes
But it takes a fairly sharp guy to diagnose the root cause, in my opinion
OP’s probem could be due to the mass airflow sensor, but I’m not there, and I can’t see any pids on the scanner screen, for example
So I’m not going to say the maf IS the cause
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I bought this can today on sale @Autozone for $6.99. The guy at the counter said that this will last forever.
If you don’t go overboard, you’ll likely do no harm
But if the maf is not the cause of the hesitation, then all you’ve done is waste some time and the cost of the can
If we were close, you could have borrowed my can!
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That’s awesome. Thanks.
I think that was one of the easyiest thing I have ever did. That is cleaning that sensor. Took me about 10 minutes and that includes drying time. But it was a couple of Phillips screws and a steady hand. I sprayed it down a few times and let it dry and dropped it back in. Of course being careful not to touch the hot plate and wires. If that’s all it takes then I will do it often.