I need a new mass air flow sensor. But I have like, $30 to my name right now, is there anyway that I could bypass it or rig it for free?

 

Unplug it. I drove my car for a year+ like that and it actually ran better. I would recommend you get one as soon as you can afford it though.

 

Well here is what happened. I was driving it around, and nailed it, and then all of a sudden it made a backfire almost, and the rpm's went down. It sounds like it's on all 8 cylinders, but it's still weird. if I give it half throttle it is okay, but if I try WOT the car hesitates and wont go any more, even at half throttle in park or N when I rev, the engine goes up to 4,300 max then goes back down. I have no idea what was going on so I took it to pep boys and had them change the plugs, and they set the timing, but it still didn't work right, still shakes. I also get about 200 miles to a tank of gas at best, something is wrong.

And when it is un-plugged it still does the same, SES light is on and it doesnt run for ****.

 

If the SES light is on all the time it sounds like you screwed up the computer. It should blink once when you turn the key, then stay on solid. If it doesnt blink, then either the PROM or the computer is bad.

 

so taking off the mass air flow is not a problem cus mines just went bad, i tried driving the car with the maf unplugged but somehows when i went full throttle the car just bogged, but then again i didnt have the air filter connected will that be a problem i i just had the throttle body straight open i just wanted to test, i plan on buying the microtech maf, but i took the top part of the motor apart, since im siamesing the intake and porting, will get an afpr slp runners and port my plenum as well as a 58mm throttle body. so the maf is th elast thing on the list since i will start to rebuild should i just not drive the car until i get the maf to avoid problems, also ? sorry to go off topic, but i see alot of people converting to speed density, now i dont wanna change my ecm n harness im just looking to get my car some descent horsepower for street driving, what the hp potential of a tpi system if ne1 knws thans

 

If you unplug the MAF that should be for "get me going again" purposes only. It's not how you fix tuning problems properly. I've also driven them around with the MAF unplugged from time to time when they went bad- but just until I could get the scratch together for a new one.

AND if you unplug the MAF your TPS and other sensors BETTER be in good operating condition for it to run correctly. If you unplug the MAF you're removed one of the most important sensors the ECM relies on to run the engine properly. Remember that without the MAF the ECM doesn't know how much air is going into the motor so it has to estimate it based on RPM (distributor reference) and throttle position (TPS).