Thread: MAF Problem?

Just a brief summary. I had an issue since I bought the car last month. When cold, it would start up and run just fine. After driving a while and it was up to temp, if I shut it down and went to restart, you would need to hold the pedal down for about 5 seconds at 1,000rpm's or so and then let off and it would stay running no problem. If you didn't give it gas, it would just die. It never threw up any codes whatsoever. I got the car relatively clean with 135K on the odometer.

Fast forward to today. So I bought the two cleaners for both the TB and MAF and a new TB Gasket, as well as a new air filter. I went down early and got everything taken apart starting with removing the MAF Sensor.



I gave it about 15 to 20 squirts of the cleaner and set it aside in a clean dry place for later.


Now it was time to remove the 3 simple 10mm nuts. I disconnected the throttle cables and bracket.

First roadblock: The lower left side nut that sits behind the left side bracket.




I wound up taking a 3/8 breaker bar and wedging it between the TB and the bracket and pried it back enough to get the socket on the nut. I needed to remove the other sensor that sits on the left side of the TB so as not to hit it with anything and that was my second roadblock. My son was down there helping me and dropped the extension that held my T20 Security Bit down between the bumper and inner valence! Needless to say it wasn't coming out no matter what I tried. I sent him to the hardware store where they charged him $3 bucks for one lousy tip! What a crook! We sell them at work for .50 cents! So I finally got the sensor out and remove the TB.


It was pretty nasty in the plenum side.


The TB side wasn't much nicer.



I gave it a good cleaning with a soft brass brush and rag and removed the butterfly plate to get in there good.




After about 15 minutes of scrubbing, I was content with how clean it came.




I scrubbed out the plenum side the best I could and installed the new gasket.





I re-installed everything in reverse order and checked all connections and vacuum lines.


This was the end result which I'm pretty happy with. It wasn't a bad job at all. Very easy for any mechanically inclined person to do and save a few bucks in the process.

good job man. wuts next on your list of things to do to your car? intake? exhaust? top swap? haha

Originally Posted by winterstorm

good job man. wuts next on your list of things to do to your car? intake? exhaust? top swap? haha

Thanks! None of the above. Haha! I am going to pick up a pair of Monroe Sensatrac H.D. Quick Struts for the front before it gets too cold out. My two front struts are original it looks like and they ride like crap.

thats a start i guess haha. you should at least do the intake though if you make it yourself it'll cost ya less than $40.

Originally Posted by winterstorm

thats a start i guess haha. you should at least do the intake though if you make it yourself it'll cost ya less than $40.

But shouldn't you free up the exhaust as well to get any benefit of a Intake Kit? Thats what I have heard anyways.

you dont HAVE to. itd be smart but its not necessary. you wont get much from an intake anyways its more for nice sound until you start doing serious modding, then you will see benefits from the intake. but yeah a lot of people do the u-bend delete on your generation of the grand prix. they either do headers that have the downpipe or they just get a downpipe.

Originally Posted by winterstorm

you dont HAVE to. itd be smart but its not necessary. you wont get much from an intake anyways its more for nice sound until you start doing serious modding, then you will see benefits from the intake. but yeah a lot of people do the u-bend delete on your generation of the grand prix. they either do headers that have the downpipe or they just get a downpipe.

Good to know, thanks.

yeah np

I have intake,downpipe,ubend delete, you will feel a difference but nothing dramatic, best increase your gonna see if you go n/a is with headers, hv3/cam or hv3/rockers, gears, tuned.

Originally Posted by 02GPinNY

But shouldn't you free up the exhaust as well to get any benefit of a Intake Kit? Thats what I have heard anyways.

Yes, you should. The intake isn't NEAR as restrictive as the exhaust side is. The factory converters are known for clogging and failing, more-so on the N/A cars than the blower ones for whatever reason...you can get a Magnaflow High-Flow for pretty cheap on EBay, and at the same time get rid of that u-bend. If you don't plan on modding, that'll help performance and MPG's...you can toss on a cone filter after you do those though. I never recommend any intake based mods before opening up the exhaust side...seen in the quote under this. Which is why I'd say you HAVE to address the exhaust, stock or not. He's 04+...he doesn't have to worry about the u-bend like you do being 97-03.

Originally Posted by winterstorm

you dont HAVE to. itd be smart but its not necessary. you wont get much from an intake anyways its more for nice sound until you start doing serious modding, then you will see benefits from the intake. but yeah a lot of people do the u-bend delete on your generation of the grand prix. they either do headers that have the downpipe or they just get a downpipe.

Winters...The slap is coming, you can't tell a guy to do something...like; you don't HAVE to...but it'd be smart. So, then wouldn't it be the right thing to do then if it is the smart thing?

Yeaaaa.

Always let the car breathe before bringing in more air, it's a very simple concept to grasp.

Originally Posted by Grimsin

I have intake,downpipe,ubend delete, you will feel a difference but nothing dramatic, best increase your gonna see if you go n/a is with headers, hv3/cam or hv3/rockers, gears, tuned.

The only real gain you'll see from an N/A car is boost...look at teh sig.

I did, did you have your hv3 in or is that when you were running nothing in the UIM.? I better not lose that badly lols..
I do have a friend with a stock 2 door gtp(only a hai i installed), im trying to get him to come to the country so we can do a race from 0-100mph and a 60 roll, but he got in trouble by the cops and they gave him a bedtime curfew now lol(not racing).
Also trying to get to the dragstrip thats 30 minutes away...no excuses on that one..

Originally Posted by blueguy91

Yes, you should. The intake isn't NEAR as restrictive as the exhaust side is. The factory converters are known for clogging and failing, more-so on the N/A cars than the blower ones for whatever reason...you can get a Magnaflow High-Flow for pretty cheap on EBay, and at the same time get rid of that u-bend. If you don't plan on modding, that'll help performance and MPG's...you can toss on a cone filter after you do those though. I never recommend any intake based mods before opening up the exhaust side...seen in the quote under this. Which is why I'd say you HAVE to address the exhaust, stock or not. He's 04+...he doesn't have to worry about the u-bend like you do being 97-03.



Winters...The slap is coming, you can't tell a guy to do something...like; you don't HAVE to...but it'd be smart. So, then wouldn't it be the right thing to do then if it is the smart thing?

Yeaaaa.

Always let the car breathe before bringing in more air, it's a very simple concept to grasp.



The only real gain you'll see from an N/A car is boost...look at teh sig.

yes its the smart thing to do but it doesnt mean he cant just make an intake its not gunna do any harm to the car especially if he plans on a u-bend delete anyways

Originally Posted by matt5112

On the topic of intakes, with the stock throttle body it will make the car REALLY loud and annoying when its cold. The idle air control system isn't designed to be quiet, they left that for the intake box to quiet down.

yeah so if you want loud engine sound the intake is the first and easiest step, then the exhaust for the good stuff haha

Originally Posted by winterstorm

yes its the smart thing to do but it doesnt mean he cant just make an intake its not gunna do any harm to the car especially if he plans on a u-bend delete anyways

Sure; even though all these cars knock stock from the factory...including the 04+'s from the more aggressive timing tables.

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee; knowledge.

if it was that big a deal no one would do intakes til they are somewhat heavily modded, yet thats the first thing most people do...if he has more plans its not gunna matter that much.

It's because most people don't know how mechanics work.

oh and just an update. my car had its random problem again today so cleaning the tb didnt fix it -__- lol oh well. does anyone have any other ideas as to what it could be? i was messing with the maf the other day (like tapping it pretty hard cuz one guy on here with a bad maf said he would tap it and the car would die) and nothing happened so im back to square one of having no clue what is going on haha.