MAFS

**yasseah** · 04-12-2010

TIA for understanding my total lack of technical speak, it loses me every time.
Apparently, my car's mass air flow sensor is messed up. Can anyone tell me what can cause it to act up and whether there's anything I can do besides replace the damn thing? My dad and a friend both told me about this spray to clean it, but husband said he was told that the spray is only a preventive tool.
Could it have been knocked loose or askew by a bump? I remember that my car was fine, but I hit a speed bump crooked, it made a grinding noise then broke down about half a mile later, and has been effed up ever since.
The code reads that it is the MAF but no specifics. My car breaks down if I don't keep the RPMs up. It also has a habit of breaking down after I put gas in it.

If it helps, my car is a 97 Grand Prix SE 3.8L and a K...that's what I had to put on the AutoZone website.

**blueguy** · 04-12-2010

You can be for sure it is the MAF by unplugging it and running it and if the craptastic driving ability of your car goes away...then it needs replacing...and honestly, if the MAF is just dirty...then no...the spray isn't just a preventative tool...it can take the MAF back to its top shape to run correctly. If you don't feel like spending a ton of money on a brand new sensor from AZ or any surrounding parts stores...buy one from...

Morad Parts Company - 3800 Motors, Transaxles, & Stock Parts

**yasseah** · 04-12-2010

Thank you for the help! How would I go about unplugging it without tearing anything up?

**Poil336** · 04-12-2010

there are four screws that hold it in, you just need a kinda special tool to get them out; torx heads i believe they're called? to test, it's just a plastic clip to unplug it. personal experience, the spray didn't work for me, i had to get a new one. good thing it came with a warranty, that one went bad like a month later

**vailskier3** · 04-12-2010

hmm, mine must be different...

**CSteen85** · 04-12-2010

The plug clips right off.

See this pic (I have the exact same car as you): http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/1641/mafp.jpg

In that pic, it's the one in the upper right hand corner, with the pink wire. There is a clip on the underside of the wiring harness. Just grab the plug with your thumb and middle finer and use your pointer finger to flex the clip down underneath and pull it straight off towards you.

Then, you need a torx security screwdriver (which is the star bit with a hole in the middle) to unscrew the two screws. Once you do that, it took me a little bit of maneuvering to get the top piece to lift off the bottom, but I LIGHTLY used a flathead screwdriver to pry it up a bit. That piece had the MAF in it with the little wire electrodes. DON'T TOUCH THEM, but spray the crap out of it with ONLY MAF cleaner (with the straw attachment) from a couple inches back. It'll shine and then reassemble it the same way you took it apart. You can also spray the wire harness connector in case the connection is also the problem. It's electrical cleaner, so it's safe.

Hope that helped!

**TheOtherNick** · 04-14-2010

Originally Posted by vailskier3

hmm, mine must be different...

04+ have the maf separate from the tb.

**hacket** · 04-21-2010

Could anyone put up a pic of where the MAF is on a 3.1? I think I found it, but wanna make sure.

**blueguy** · 04-21-2010

Just google a picture of it and then unplug the one that looks like it.

**hacket** · 04-22-2010

I did that but the only thing that looked remotely close only had a silmilar connector. It was attached right where the air goes into the throttle body and when I unhooked and ran, the RPMs averaged around 2100 at idle. So I'll just assume this is it. Weird that it looks even completely different from the MAF on rockauto.com.

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