Clean a Mass Airflow Sensor (MAS) in your car to increase fuel economy, stop hesitation and stalling, and shut off your check engine light. The most common symptoms of a bad MAS are engine performance issues such as rough acceleration or rough idling, along with a check engine light on your dashboard. To clean a dirty MAS, turn your car off, put on gloves and safety glasses, and find the mass air flow (MAF) sensor. Disconnect the MAF sensor from the connector and remove it. Clean the inside of the MAF sensor with MAF cleaner, applying 10-15 blasts around the inside and sides of the part. Use isopropyl alcohol (also known as rubbing alcohol) to clean the MAF sensor, using a soft brush, cotton swabs, and a clean cloth. Pour isopropyl alcohol in a clean spray bottle and spray liberally over the MAF sensor.
Using CRC’s Air Sensor Clean Pro with the engine off, unplug the MAF wiring harness, remove the vehicle’s air filter, and check the MAF sensor’s inlet screen for dirt or debris. Spray 10 to 15 spurts of the MAF cleaner onto the hot wire or plate and inspect the air inlet. This DIY guide will help you clean a dirty MAS sensor and improve your car’s performance.
📹 How To Clean a Mass Airflow Sensor (In-depth, detailed version)
How to clean a Mass Airflow Sensor. Mass Airflow Sensor cleaning can increase fuel economy, stop hesitation and stalling, and …
Can I use WD-40 on a MAF sensor?
The user employed the Servisol Aero Klene 50 Electronic Cleaning Solution for the purpose of cleansing mass airflow sensors, and was pleased to find that no residue was left behind. It is recommended that WD-40 be used in lieu of the aforementioned product, as it leaves behind an oily residue. The user has experience in a variety of automotive applications and is an active member of multiple online forums.
Does cleaning a MAF sensor make a difference?
The maintenance of clean MAF sensors enables the smooth operation of ECUs, increases power output, and improves fuel economy. It is imperative to guarantee that the engine is supplied with the optimal quantity of air. For detailed instructions on the use of Part 2211, please refer to the Facebook video guide. In order to clean major air-intake and fuel system components, it is recommended that the 4-Step Professional Air and Fuel System Maintenance Kit be utilized.
Can I use electrical cleaner to clean a MAF?
The text indicates that electrical contact cleaner is an appropriate cleaning agent for a mass air flow sensor in a vehicle. However, it also cautions against the use of carburetor cleaners or WD-40, as these can leave deposits on the sensor, which may exacerbate the problem.
Can you clean an air flow sensor?
It is recommended that the air flow sensor be cleaned each time the air filter is replaced, as this constitutes a straightforward maintenance procedure.
Can I use alcohol to clean a mass air flow sensor?
In the absence of a cleaning agent, the recommended procedure for the maintenance of an MAF sensor is the use of isopropyl alcohol (rubbing alcohol) in conjunction with a soft brush, cotton swabs, and a clean cloth. Any loose debris should be removed in a gentle manner, taking care to avoid any damage to the wires or components. The cloth should then be moistened with the aforementioned alcohol, after which the sensor should be wiped and subsequently left to air dry. The sensor should then be reinstalled in its original position and the aforementioned process repeated in order to clean the sensor once more.
Is it better to clean or replace a MAF sensor?
Technicians often attempt to clean a contaminated mass airflow sensor (MAF), but this rarely leads to 100% operation and accuracy. In some cases, the sensor’s internal circuitry is damaged or shorted, requiring replacement. The MAF is crucial for the engine’s fueling strategy, ensuring peak performance, fuel economy, and reduced emissions. Modern MAF sensors use either hot wires or hot film elements, with the sensor’s internal circuitry heating up the element to a specific temperature.
As air flows past the element and cools it off, the sensor increases current to maintain the temperature, with a direct correlation between the amount of current needed and the MASS of airflow past it.
How do I know if my MAF sensor needs to be cleaned or replaced?
The mass airflow sensor (MAF) is a crucial component in an automobile, monitoring the amount of air flowing into the engine from the outside. It helps the engine control module (ECM) make adjustments to the air and fuel mixture needed for combustion. If the MAF is dirty or going bad, it can cause issues such as hard starting or turning over, engine hesitation, hiccups, and fuel mixture problems.
One sign of MAF issues is difficulty starting or turning over, which could be due to a dead MAF sensor. If the sensor is dead or dirty, it won’t send the proper readings to the ECM, causing starting problems. Additionally, a stalling engine is another sign of MAF issues. If the ECM sends incorrect air readings, the engine may stall, leading to fuel-starved or flooded engines. Willoughby Hills Auto Repair can clean or replace the MAF if it’s dirty or going bad.
How do you clean a MAF sensor without a MAF cleaner?
The mass air flow (MAF) sensor, which gauges the air intake for optimal fuel mixture, requires regular cleaning to prevent the accumulation of dirt and oil. In the absence of a designated cleansing agent, isopropyl alcohol, a ubiquitous household substance, can be employed as an alternative.
What are the signs of a dirty air flow sensor?
The mass airflow (MAF) sensor in your car’s engine, located between the throttle body and air filter box, is a crucial component that detects the amount of air flowing into the engine and reports it to the engine control module (ECM). The ECM adjusts the air and fuel mixture in the combustion chamber to ensure efficient engine detonation. If the MAF is dirty or dead, it may cause the vehicle to lag when attempting to accelerate. Additionally, bad gas mileage can be affected by the efficiency of how air and fuel are burned in the combustion chamber.
If there is too much or not enough air, the engine will work too hard, leading to increased service visits. Therefore, it is essential to regularly check and maintain the MAF to ensure optimal performance and efficiency.
What is the best cleaner for MAF sensors?
CRC’s Air Sensor Clean Pro is a product designed to clean MAF sensors without damaging plastic, painted surfaces, or sensitive components. To use it, remove the vehicle’s air filter and unplug the MAF wiring harness. Apply 10 to 15 short bursts of CRC MAF cleaner to the hot wire or hot plate, keeping the straw end 100 to 120 mm away from the hot wire. Allow the solution to dry thoroughly before starting the engine. This process takes under 10 minutes and should be performed every 15, 000 to 20, 000 km or every time the engine’s air filter is replaced.
Can a MAF sensor be cleaned without removing it?
CRC’s Air Sensor Clean Pro is a tool for cleaning the MAF sensor in vehicles. To use it, disconnect the engine, unplug the MAF wiring harness, and remove the air filter to access the sensor. Apply 10 to 15 bursts of CRC MAF cleaner to the hot wire or hot plate, keeping the straw end 100 to 120 mm away. Allow the process to dry thoroughly before starting the engine. This process should be done every 15, 000 to 20, 000 km or every time the engine’s air filter is replaced.
📹 How to Clean Mass Air Flow Sensor to Stop Car Hesitation
Mass air flow sensor cleaning. How to clean mass air flow sensor in your car DIY with Scotty Kilmer. How to stop car hesitation by …
Chris my idle was real low (100 rmp) and engine would stall in my RX 300 then the check engine light went on. Took it to a repair shop and they said I needed a new Mass AirFlow Sensor $250 +$75 labor. I didn’t let them fix it. Instead I went to YouTube that night and found your article on cleaning the MAF Sensor. I picked up a can of MFS cleaner for $8.00 and wham It worked. My idle is at 900..perfect THANK YOU
Thanks man. Literally a few weeks on YouTube with websites like yours has turned me from somebody who could barely identify components in an engine bay to somebody confident enough to service mine and my family’s cars, do jobs like this, and most importantly enjoy this stuff without the anxiety of stepping into the unknown. Brilliant tips.
4 years ago I came across the ChrisFix website when I wanted to change my brake pads and rotors. His tutorials are exceptional. Simple, thorough, informative, accurate. Since then, I’ve used his articles to expand into other maintenance areas and now I’m going to hit my MAF sensor this weekend. I have a 2012 Nissan Pathfinder with 300k miles as of 2/27/19. I have much respect for people like Chris who have a passion for helping people. Thumbs up and subscribe!
Speaking as an old fashioned Englishman It is a pleasure to see and hear a sensible Lad with a hand devoid of Tattoos and the rest of it…So straight forwards clear dictation and sound advice! Chris I hope you work for yourself and get good rewards..or if you are a employee your boss appreciates you and gives you a good living wage and a good bonus because you are worth it..Growing up in fifties England we had good values and good work ethics, sadly no more..If I find young people who give good service I always comment or contact the manager and give them feedback.. you can still have a Tecki type life with good old fashioned service and respect..really good to see your work ethics and thorough attention to detail.Keep up the good work and look after yourself!
thanks Chris.. I have a 2002 Honda Accord and I had to take it to the shop and they stated it was the mass airflow sensor that was bad and they wanted to charge me almost $400 to fix it after perusal this article I did it myself exactly what you said and it works great after 3 weeks thank you a bunch you save me money which is what we’re all doing today thank you very much
I owe you lunch the next time you are in southern Japan. Your tutorial allowed me to clean the MAF sensor myself, thereby saving me between $300-$600. It cost me one hour of my time and about $25 dollars in parts and product. When I had this happen a number of years ago, and was not yet aware of your article, the local shop wanted $600 for the job, and even my own car guy charged me about $300. I’m feeling a little bit like I was scammed. Thanks, man! Big Mac sets are on me!
Love perusal your website, Ironically I was cleaning my MAF Sensor when your article came on. This simple job made such a difference. I have a 2004 GMC Yukon which has been running sluggish and rattles when going up hills. I purchased an inexpensive OBII reader and it said MAF Sensor. So I pulled it out cleaned it and now it has full power again. No noises and going up hill is such a difference. Note to All, if you have a K&N Filter cleaning your MAF Sensor is a must. when I took my sensor out, even the screen was blocking air flow due to oil residue. I’m personally going back to paper.
Thank you for this article! I have cleaned the MAF sensor with excellent results! Before cleaning, my average fuel economy was similar to yours. (I have a ’99 Ranger, manual transmission with currently 141K miles) I WAS getting around 17-19 mpg. After cleaning the MAF sensor, here are my results: Fill up 1 – 21.7 mpg Fill up 2 – 21.4 mpg Fill up 3 – 22.8 mpg Fill up 4 – 23.8 mpg Fill up 5 – 23.5 mpg. Thank you for this website, you are AWESOME!
I want to say thank you for all your articles! I have a big passion for cars/trucks! I have a 96 Toyota Tacoma 4×4 and was having problems with it not wanting to start after it warmed and was driven for awhile, it would take me 5+ mins. sometimes to get it to start. I tried this on my truck and the mass airflow sensor for one looks brand new now and it sounds so much better. It idles a lot better and the truck starts right up after driving it for awhile and I go to leave again. So Thank you. I didn’t know you could clean them!
I had my Ford Explorer tuned up at 150,000 miles for stalling out. Then at 175,000 the idle started getting funning esspecially in humid weather. I cleaned the Mass Air Flow sensor With CRC cleaner and changed the air filter, it runs better and gets better Miles per Gallon. My 2010 is probably due to have parts on the out from age, but I tell you this really did the trick.
Hi Chris. Just want to thank you for the article. Today, I was disappointed by my Mechanic and decided to walk through the town until i find a “mass airflow sensor cleaner”. I couldn’t believe my eyes when i eventually found the product, as it is difficult to find it in my country. My car had all the symptoms you described, but after spraying in the sensor…waited for 30mins to start my car again. Look, my rev is perfectly normal and car does not stall or shake.
Thank you so much for this information. My 99 Honda accord is going absolutely NUTS with high vibration when accelerating or idling at a light. I’ve already had the egr valve cleaned and and exhaust ports cleaned. But all those parts were clumped up with carbon. I’ve had several crank and no starts (replaced the reply). Heavy vibration was eliminated, but my car still has a high idle. So this is my next step since I have a K&N air filter. Lots of things on my list that I learned from Eric the car guy too. So your articles are super detailed and informative which I greatly appreciate. THANK YOU❣
Chris, daughter and mom just watched and followed your article “cleaning mass air flow sensor” we have a car not a truck but were still able to take it apart, clean and put back on. I haven’t driven far but am hoping and praying this is our extreme car problem. If it works its saving me over $100.00 + Thank you so much I will watch you again! How do I reset the check engine light ??
This was the best and most informative and simply explained article of the many I have seen (I am not a DIY car guy). I have replaced my mass airflow sensor twice (check engine light comes on and same code for MAS) so now I am going to look at all of the scenarios you discussed. And not to mention, you gave all the information in the description including what OBDII scanner you used w/links (was one of the things I was wondering as I watched). My car has 140k miles and I want to get 200k out of it. This will be my go-to website. Subscribed and two thumbs way up!
The MAF is a hot-wire anemometer (air speed meter) operating at 100 to 200°. The moving air cools the sensor causing a change in it temp. (for which the PCM must apply more power to the MAF to maintain the hot wire at the specified temp.) which is ultimately proportional to the air flow rate. In this article, the assembly shown includes the MAF sensor (longer column) as well as the IAT (Intake Air Temp. sensor) shorter one. Doesn’t hurt to clean up both sensor elements.
2006 hyundai Tuscon had a check engine light came on for me. I had an OBD to hook up and got the reading of the bad mixture. I used your steps,. Replaced my air filter, got the spray and my local Autozone. I couldnt get the ring off completely so I shot it as close as I could through lifting off the intake from the filter. Also picked up a good quality fuel injection cleaner and loaded up into a full tank of super unleaded. The combination of all of this did the trick. About 50 miles later and the check engine light shut off. Great article. It really helped!
My trucks heater core coupler off the intake manifold broke its little plastic guts and shot coolant with a little k seal in it all over my engine bay including my airbox. Trucks been running terribly since than and I think this might be the problem. I just cleaned the maf sensor and currently am waiting to reassemble. Thanks for these articles dude you make everything so much simpler to understand while still being detailed.
Your article is so informative for a multitude of reasons, not just the MAF part! Major value added article here due to 1.) Demonstrating with Blue Driver OBD2 device: I bought one to scan live data. It scanned live data but I have no clue what the numbers are telling me. I’m not a mechanic. 2.) You explain a very probable cause of the MAF malfunctioning due to the oil residue coming off of the K&N air filter. I had one of those too and recently decided to go back to a paper filter. I’m pretty certain my car’s problem is due to K&N oil residue coming off of the filter and onto the MAF hot wires and messing with my car’s performance. Thank you smart man!
+biker932012, the engine is a V6 3.0L. You probably have a 4cyl because there is no way a V6 ranger will get 20-23mpgs. The scanner is a Lemur Bluedriver OBD2 scanner . You can get it here: amazon.com/gp/product/B00652G4TS/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00652G4TS&linkCode=as2&tag=chri0e2-20&linkId=ZB4II5VJ4CBGRVMZ
This is a really old article, but I wanted to toss a comment in anyway. I went ahead and cleaned my sensor off yesterday as instructed. It didn’t seem too bad, but when I put it back together, the indicator lights on my dash that had been stuck on since I bought the car used, three years ago, have all turned off and my car feels like it runs much better. I was really surprised by the difference. Thank you for all your wonderful articles. I’ve learned so much, and have been able to do a lot of my own repairs because of them.
94 ranger, couple yrs ago I had rough idle. Mechanic unplugged the sensor, said it wouldn’t hurt anything and I drove it that way until recently when I was having problems with it cranking but no start. Hasn’t done it since hooking back up. Going 2mro to get a can of that cleaner and return the cam sensor I purchased 👍great article
Thanks for the simple fix Chris! 2015 Explorer with 55,000 miles. Idles smother, more pickup off the line, and that hesitation feeling upon acceleration seems to have gone! Eight bucks for all of that! Best eight bucks I’ve ever spent…… It was almost back to the dealer for a diagnostic test as I have an extended warranty. Hopefully I don’t have to go that route now.
Bro thank you, you saved me 170 dollars at a time when money is hard to come by. I didn’t even think about cleaning it so i took it out and sure enough it had like a leaf or petal stuck in-between the sensors so o dusted it out with a pressurized can air and then i used crc qd electric cleaner for the sensor part in case anyone is wondering if that would work instead of having to buy the specific MAF cleaner is you can’t find it or already have the other one.I just followed your steps and then did a ecu throttle relearn on my 07 infiniti G35 Coupe just to be safe and it was back up and running in no time!
Great step by step article . And thanks for pointing out to use mass air flow sensor cleaner ONLY . The sensor seems to work and look like a brand new one after you cleaned it and changed out the dirty filter . I need to do this to my Mercedes SL . My mechanic cleaned the MAF on my other mercedes and charged me $240 . I’m going to clean this one myself and save money . Thank you again.
Thanks for this article. You have me thinking about my K&N filter in my Accord EX6 that’s been installed most of the car’s 282000 miles and I’ve had an intermittent issue of hesitation after start up that clears up after a minute or so of driving.This happens mostly in rainy humid weather. So perhaps we are putting too much oil on the filter and it migrates to the MAF. I’M going to only oil the inlet side of the filter and see if that makes a difference.
Thank you so m7ch for info. Sharing this knowledge feels like a heaven sent gift. In over five years of owning 2015 Ford Transit 250 Cargo Van I finally know for certain I can diagnose and either repair the frequent cause of this vehicle’s breakdowns. Your article gave me a clear understanding why this vehicle fails to start leaving me stranded and with massive repair bills. The MAF is on top of the Air box. Exposed to moisture, dust, debris and such. Shame on FORD for neglecting to reveal this ridiculously poor failure in building a vehicle that was designed to fail.
I had a rough idle, I was having nightmares on what it could be it. I was being told it was the timing belt to vacuum leak. I even had a mechanic tell me it was a bad engine mount. I did this as this was the cheapest to do. And boom it was gone just like that! I was almost sure it would be the end of my work truck as it has 230,000 miles.
Why haven’t I learned yet to just come to your articles? Waste time listening to these other goofuses prattle on and on about unnecessary crap then usually get confusing or incomplete instructions. You’re always right to the point, easy to understand and include what’s necessary and leave out the fat. Thank you
My car does an appalling 14-16 mpg. My dad never cleaned this and until I got the car it had an oem air filter and cabin filter. I will do this then change spark plugs and ignition could because those are all oem too. Not to mention the car ran with shitty maintenance for 210,000 miles. I’m gonna give the poor thing some care.
CRC mass air flow cleaner, in the instructions it says “do not use on vehicles with a Karman-Vortex air flow sensor, eg- Toyota Supra turbos, Mitsubishis, and most Lexus vehicles. Sure glad I read that can before spraying down the MAF sensor on my Mighty Max. That could have been a $300 dollar blunder. Be careful people, these articles sometimes leave out little details…
BRAVO. Not sure if you’re an instructor, but you’re presentation and simple explanation is great. You don’t try to be a character and get to the solution fast. Will definitely be perusal regularly and sharing your lessons. You mentioned K&N filter causing build up and that indeed was the issue I had. Thanks
Engine light on. After perusal this ChrisFix article, I was able to clean the MAF. The loud struggling engine sound disappeared. Idling rpm improved. The vehicle is running like brand new. I changed the engine air filter too. I did the same thing on my other car. Happy with the results. Used OEBDII to clear the codes. Thanks Chris!!!
Well, it’s five years since you made this article and over 2 million 232,000 viewers! Impressive. I Googled the OBD2 scanner and the one you seem to have (I might be wrong) looks to cost nearly $800. I did see some cheapies – $15.99 from Walmart? Amazon had a scanner for $70 and FIXD from Best Buy at $60. Not sure I should purchase one since I’m really a rookie and the numbers surely don’t mean much to me though I copied the numbers you had at end of the article. Not sure with the cheap version of what you have will even give me the numbers you have on engine load, coolant, RPM, etc. In any event, I found your instructions quite good.