Just a heads-up for a possible solution to a check engine light. CEL was on, and codes said it was possible cat converter and a few other things. There were two codes showing. The guy at Autozone who read the codes (for free) gave me a few things it might be. One of them was a dirty Mass Air Flow Sensor. Sprayed a can of MAF cleaner (removed it from engine first) and the CEL wen off and has been off for several weeks now. It was an $8.00 fix.
I hope this helps someone out there. (2001 Chevy Silverado, 5.3 V-8, 235,000 miles)
You imply you used the whole can. Is this true?
Yes - The screen in front of the sensors were black, and I kept spraying to clean them, with less than complete success. I had throttle body cleaner handy, but didn’t use it as I didn’t know what, if any, effect it would have on the air flow sensors.
@psanzone
All parts stores carry MAF cleaner
Throttle body cleaner is for throttle bodies and carbs, not MAF
When the ECM detects problems with the fuel/air mixture, that can trigger a cat code. You were smart to not assume it was the cat that was causing the problem. The cat code simply means the ECM is confused by the O2 sensor readings it is seeing. So the problem might be anything that affects the fuel/air mixture. And the MAF is very much involved in the ECM’s mixture calculations. Thanks for posting. There’s a probably lot of working cats mistakenly replaced for this reason.