l98+t5

ok i have an 88 iroc with the tpi 350. i know the person i bought it from did some tampering with the car. on of the things that is wrong was the IAC motor. it wouls stick open and idle at 1500 so i replaced it and then looked on a scan tool to see if it was moving properly. and it is. i also replaced the TPS and set it corectlly to .5 volts at closed throttle and 5 volts at WOT. but the big problem remains. sometimes when i am cruzing down the road and push the clutch in the car will completely die. sometimes it will drop way to low to like 400 rpm then go right to 750. sometimes it will drop right to 750 and stay there. sometimes it will go from 500 to 1000 to 500 to 1000 and keep searching for idle. i was looking into a main factor that controls the IAC ..... the maf sensor. to my suprise there were no screens in the maf. i heard that some people had problems with thier cars after they gutted the maf and some did not. i also heard that they are VERY sensitive and if shaken or bumped they can be damaged. there is nothing between the air box and the MAF to keep them connected. does anyone know what is suppose to be there.? is it a rubber insert? and also could this loosness have shaken and damaged the maf? please if anyone could answer any of these questions it wold save me a lot of time and money thank you

bnoon

There are no reasons to descreen a MAF sensor. Replace it with either a new one or an untampered one from a salvage yard. You can also try to find the plastic/rubber connector you are missing from the MAF to the air box. You're on the right track it sounds like.

firebirdjones

Funny thing, I have an 88 Iroc with 5.7 that I thought was having MAF problems as well. I am not sure if I can help but I can tell you what I have done.
As far as removing screens, you will get mixed answers on that, I know that was the hot ticket when these cars were new. When I had code 34 in mine, I tried cleaning the wire inside the MAF, to do this, one of the screens will have to be removed. I removed the rear screen, I left the front screen in since I figure this is where most of the debree is coming in anyway. Although this did not help me, it turned out that the MAF relay was bad on my car and setting code 34. Do you have any codes? After that my car has been running excellent even with the rear screen removed.
As far as what connects the MAF to the air box, mine has a factory squeeze type clamp, the edges of it are curled in to hold the 2 pieces together, I figured it looked like a tough clamp to find so I carefully removed this so I could re-use it, inside is a rubber o-ring to seal the MAF to the factory air intake and the MAF has a slot in it so that it is clocked a certain way when sliding into the air intake box. On the other end of the MAF (throttle body side) is a hose clamp attatching to a flexible rubber tube about 6 inches long and then attatched to the throttle body with another hose clamp. It is important that all of this is sealed well or the MAF will get a false signal (air leak) and could also cause idle problems or codes to set, at least that is what I am told. I hope some of this helps you, let us know what you find. Larry.

l98+t5

ok i had it apart yesterday and i found the rubber seal you are talking about. but the wierd thing is that i have no codes having to do with the maf sensor. the only intermittent code i have is 45 or o2 sensor rich. this could be affected by the maf right? so has anyone had a maf problem without a maf code? what about a relay. will the computer spit out a maf code if a relay is bad? thanks for the honest help guys.

firebirdjones

I am not sure on the code 45, sounds like 02 sensor related.
Mine was setting a code 34 (maf sensor) from the bad MAF relay, after I replaced the relay it quit setting the code so yes the relays can cause the car to set an MAF code.
I don't have the diagnostics in front of me for code 45 but if it were me I would pull out the 02 sensor and have a look at it, if it is original with alot of mileage it would not be a bad idea to replace it in my opinion, they are relatively cheap anyway and it may have an effect on your idle, not sure but I am sure someone here will chime in that can help on that. Larry.

rgarcia63

My 88' the crimp that hold the air box and the MAF together lost it's grip.
I took a 1/2" rubber hose about 13" long, and split it down one side. I then spread it open an wrapped around the Crimp, and trimmed it to size, then clamped it down with a 4" hose clamp.