The car cranks and starts up fine, but the idle surges to 500 RPMs, then it sputters to the point of nearly stalling, the shoots back up to 500. The car ran perfectly 45 minutes prior to this which is what's really strange. It may have still been drivable, but I'm certainly not taking it anywhere running like this. I'm going back tomorrow morning to try and figure it out, so hopefully someone can give me some advice before then. I'm going to try and borrow a code scanner too, and see if that tells me anything.

 

maybe an air hose crack giving you an air leak? maybe MAF sensor died? if you disconnect it you can run the car in limp mode and get it home at least.

not sure buddy hope its ok.

 

I did have a vaccum leak back in April that was causing it to idle really high (like 1500 RPMs). But not rough like it is now. Turned out it was a bad EGR. Could the MAF fail out of nowhere like that? Is there any way to test it besides buying a new one and plugging it in?

And if it makes a difference, I put a new exhaust from the y-pipe back on it last night. Not sure if that would affect anything though.

 

go onto tpiparts.net they can tell you how to test the voltage with a volt meter across your maf sensor. you have to call them and tehy will help you right over the phone as your doing it.

also it could just be one of the maf relays. which is an easy replacement fix.

and yes i believe it can just go. if relies on a very fine tuned wire to tell the ecm how much air is coming into the engine. if it gives the wrong info then in reality then your air fuel mixture is messed up and gives you a bad idle.

your iac valve might be all clogged up with carbon gunk thats another possibility.

call these guys and they can help you narrow down ur problem.

 

Went down there this morning, got a code 33, replaced the MAF, and it's still doing the same thing. What gives? Could I have gotten a bum part?

 

did you try running it with the maf unplugged? try it and see if it runs better..

 

It did run better unplugged. That's how I got it home. I changed out the power relay and now it's running fine.

 

what and where is a power relay?

 

It's a relay for the MAF and it's on the firewall on the driver's side.

Just wanted to say thanks to Bobby_80s for helping out. Without the MAF suggestion, I'd probably still be sitting outside of my friend's house scratching my head.

 

are both relays on the driver side firewall are for the maf? which one is for the maf

 

not a problem glad i could help
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both relays for the maf are on the driverside firewall near our brake booster.

one is maf power other is maf burnoff

there is a third one which is your fuel pump relay which is in the same area as the maf relays.

go to tpiparts.net and call them or e-mail them to send you the relay numbers to identify which one is which or go to the dealership or a parts store but tpiparts should be your first try.

goodluck