CRC MAF sensor cleaner, now truck randomly sputters

This is on my 1998 4x4 2.7L

Pulled the sensor out and gave it the 10-15 sprays the can said, put it back and then started a 200 mile trip. Throughout the trip the engine would just loose all power for a split second and jolt forward, I was able to maintain 70-ish mph the whole time but jolting forward randomly every 5 minutes or so. At one point it was doing it so bad I thought the engine was just going to die completely. I did stop at a rest stop and let it idle but it would just die unless I gave it some gas.

Anyone else ever experience these symptoms? Ive never heard of that CRC stuff causing problems but thats all I did and then all this happened. I was about to order a new MAF sensor but I figured I would ask on here before I did to see if anyone had experience/advice.

 

1) hopefully when you cleaned the MAF, you allowed the MAF to cool down completely before spraying the cleaner (not taking it off after driving it then cleaning it right away)
2) after cleaning it, hope you gave it time to complete dry before re-installing and starting the truck up

If not, you probably ruin the MAF heated coil wire.

 

It's easy to test a MAF sensor (see youtube) with a multimeter. Don't throw parts at your truck.

 

You can clean it when the engine has just ran its fine to do that, the op is referring to the maf sensors with a heated self cleaning wire which are not on our trucks. The solvent should evaporate fast too, so by the time you've got it back in it should have worked, a new one is very cheap on Amazon and should remedy your issue as the computer rarely notices when the air flow meter is off, only way to tell is to swap it, stick with Denso and you can use their website to cross reference that part number. Good luck!

 

I am sure our 5vz 3.4L MAF have a heated wire, that's the purpose of a MAF.



Here's a statement from Gadget URD:

"A MAF sensor uses two platnimum wires that are heated to a certain temp. As air flows over them the heat is disapated. The computer circuit adds current to the wires to keep them at the certain temp. The variation of current needed to maintan the temp is how it determines how much air is flowing through the sensor. More air, the more the wires are cooled and the more current needed to keep them at the specified temp.

It is these wires that need to be cleaned. As dirt and other crud builds up on the wires it insulates them and the air does not cool them as much so the sensor goes into error and reports there is less air entering the engine then there is and the mix can go lean and you can have drivability problems.

I don't know what people are cleaning with a Q-Tip, but I would not touch those wires with anything as they are very brittle and can be broken very easily.

Depending on sensor style the wires are located in different places. On the 95-98 trucks the wires are deep inside of the torpedo center section on the 5vz. To clean that type, you should hold the sensor so the electronic package is upward and then spray the stream of electronic parts cleaner into the tip of the center torpedo and blast the wires clean.

On the later 5vz and I think the 4 cyl trucks the wires are deep inside the stalk. If you hold the sensor eliment upside down and look in the to the hole just right you can see the sensor wires. Hold the sensor eliment with the electronic package facing upward so the cleaner can not pool in the electronic package and blast the wires with electronic parts cleaner and let the cleaner drip back out the same way you are spraying it in. Continue until you can see the wires are clean.

There is also a temp sensor in the assembly. On the 95-98 5vz MAFs it will be a little metal tit that sticks into the air stream off of one of the 4 supports that hold the torpedo center section. On the 4 cyl and later 5vz trucks it is a bulb looking thing along the side of the stalk. Just blast it clean.

Once you get all sensor wires and temp sensor clean you can blast off the exterior of the rest of the sensor, but that is really not very criticle. It is the wires that are really important.

I would never use brake cleaner. That is very harsh stuff and some brands have clorine in it. Clorine reacts with platinum and that is not a good thing at all. Use the correct stuff."

Gadget

 

I know Gadget knows alot about our trucks but I do to, I know for sure there are two types of non-velocity style mafs made. There are ones with heated elements to burn off the dirt (self cleaning) but ours get colder as more air passes by it and through it, changing its voltage. The heat it experiences is ambient temperature. The heated one's get replaced more often because when voltage is off normal it cycles heat to clean the fine wire, thats the difference between the two. Sometime this year a high end manufacturer is going digital with these to see temps with ir, making these more accurate. Cleaning these too often can cause damage because maf cleaner is made of hexane which is butane's evil brother, hexane is a strong polar solvent that evaporates quickly and hence was adopted to be used for this application.

 

so it could have been either me not waiting long enough for it to cool down before spraying it or i just cleaned it too much in the past