I've been reading about them on the site and all I've heard is people talking about the wire that heats/cools from the air moving over it and all...I've seen pictures of MAFs with wires going through the middle, running the diameter of the tube, but mine just has a computer chip thing going down the center, no wire running like the ones I've seen. How does mine sense that air?

Also, there is a small burnt spot on it, like a very small charred piece on the actual chip about this size () literally. Something that could possibly be a bad thing? My SES light shows nothing though so I've assumed it's fine.

 

picture?

 

Year of car? I'ts hard to tell if we don't know what your talking about.
But if it's working, why mess with it?

 

All the V6's used a hot film style MAF instead of the Hot Wire style. it's the exact same thing though, just a film instead of a wire.

If the car runs fine and there's no light on to speak of, don't worry about the spot on it, it's near impossible to clean off without screwing up the sensor.

 

well, while the car is idling gently tap on the MAF. If the car stumbles, IIRC, the MAF is bad.

The v6's use a digital frequency film MAF instead of the analog v8 hot wire one.