It had done this a few times for the past few months, but these past few weeks it's been getting much worse. It used to be that it'd happen comming off of idle every now and then, but now it's happened a couple of times when I'm accelerating to get onto the freeway.

Basically, it will be running fine and then the engine will just shut off--like someone just turned the key. Or, sometimes it might recover itself--like it will die, and then it will come back on in a second or two (but that only happens when the car is still moving). Then, the SES light will come on. When I put my code reader on it, it gives me a code 34, which is a bad MAF sensor. Well, the MAF sensor is less than a year old, and the one before it lasted for the life of the car up until I had to change it.

One mechanic told me that it might be the MAF relay (looks like a fan relay next to the battery).

Any ideas on what I should do?

Thanks

BTW -- This is on the '88 Camaro in the sig...

 

I've heard that an MAF test is to disconnect the MAF and run the car. If it runs fine, then it's a faulty MAF. I've heard of people going through several of them..they don't seem to be the longest lasting or most reliable parts. I can't tell you too much on them though because I don't have one

 

That's interesting. Actually, that's the first thing that I tried was to run the car without the MAF. I could unplug it while the car was running and then plug it back in, and the idle wouldn't even flinch...

 

never unplug your MAF with the battery hooked up, it will short it out. When you buy a new one at the auto store they will even remind you to un-hook your batt. before installing the new one.



Do you have a lose or sloppy colum/stearing wheel???

 

What's the steering wheel and column have to do with the MAF?

 

Actually, although I don't see the connection between the MAF sensor and steering, my steering wheel does have more "play" in it than I'd like.

 

Lol..yeah, mine too. I can jerk the wheel pretty far to the sides without the car moving much. Think it's the outer ball joints or something..the arms and **** move when I turn the wheel but the tires don't turn with them. Already had my idler arm replaced, because the shop said it was 'dangerously bad'..lol... But there can't be any obscure connection here, I have the MAP sensor not the MAF. I love it.

 

if you have tilt stearing, the bolts that hold it on come un-done and you get a sloppy wheel. which will turn your car off at random when it gets bad, or when you turn it very sharp. all 4 screws were completly out on mine. it is apart right now in the drive way, waiting for my tilt pivot pin remover.

 

that is exactly what is happening to my 85 camaro. It gives code 34 and it didnt go away even after replacing the MAFS. It still stalls every once and awhile, I think it is something in the plugs wiring, but let me know when u figure this thing out. My email is bjorboy2k2@msn.com

 

bjorboy2k2: Well, for me, it turned out to be my MAF sensor. I was able to cough-up the money for one, so I decided to go ahead and try it. Popped it in, and I've not had my car die since (no more codes, either). Probably should have replied back here to let everybody know that I fixed it.

Something else that I should mention, though... the MAF sensor that I just replaced wasn't even a year old. I asked a mechanic about that, and he said that it might be the MAF relay (it's right up between the battery and the fan--you'd swear that it controlled the fan, except that the fan still goes with the relay out ). I replaced that right before I replaced the MAF sensor.

I'm wondering now if perhaps I had a bad relay to begin with, and that fried my old MAF sensor (hence I didn't last more than a year). I can't really back that up, except to say that it sounds like electrical problems can break a MAF sensor rather easily.

You might want to try that.

I'm no expert on car electronics, but the only other things I could recommend are... Make sure that the contacts on your MAF sensor plug are in good shape (i.e. clean and free from corrosion). Same deal for the MAF relay. Also, make sure that you have a good, tight connection between your intake "snorkel" (the thing that holds your air filters) and the MAF sensor. It is possible that, if there is an opening somewhere after the air-filters, then dirt/dust can get in and corrode the MAF sensor's electronics (I thought mine was strangely dirty when I pulled it out--the one that I had replaced before it had been in there for as long as I've had the car, and it was immaculate).

Good luck!

 

Can't quite say I agree with that one, don't even see how it's possible for it to short out. MAF has a 3 pin connector. Two of which are power, center one is the signal output wire (to the ECM). If you unplug the MAF you're just taking it out of the circuit... no way for it to short out. If that were so, my MAF would've died years ago.

sancho, if you do a <a href="search.php?s="><img src="images/top_search.gif" alt="Search" border="0"></a> in the V6 forum for "maf visual inspection", you could've done a visual inspection on the MAF to see if the frequency film was ruined. You could also search for my code 34 chart and run through it; it tests all the wiring between the MAF and the rest of the car. For example, corrosion on the MAF harness connector could cause an intermittant disruption in the signal (and sets a code 34). Or, a bad ring terminal on the MAF fuse could cause the same thing, intermittant power loss to the MAF. Etc, etc...

 

Can you not borrow pivot pin removier from a local shop. I did when I fixed my steering colomn.
Oh yeah the fun part about it is the get the cogs in the tilt wheel to reallign so you can put the pins back in. *crazy laugh*

If you colomn is loose fix it as soon as possible. When I finally did mine it was luckey for me. there was only like 2 threads on one bolt still holding it in. if that had of let go who would know what could have happened.
I admit I was stupid for letting it go that long. Don;t make the same mistake. As well letting it get that sloppy resulted in needing a new key switch.

 

I dont know about shops but none of the auto part stores around me have the pivot pin tool to sell, let alone borrow.

took a little over a week to get mine. mistake was taking the car apart before I had the tool. got it on ebay for 10 bucks shipped. stupid little thing. all 4 of my bolts were out. only 3 of them went back in, 1 was striped about 1/4 in on the end.

It was a pain in the a$$ but its real nice now. Dont even start till you have that pin tool. allen wench will take out the torx bolts inside the column and a 1/4 12 point socket will work on the reverse torx bolts. But I could not find a way to get around the pivot pin puller.

Then while putting it back together I did some moding. Got ride of that stupid lever you gotta push on to get your keys out. Super glued my turn signal lever so it would not move forwards n back for the brights anymore. put me a good old stomper brights switch on the floor. greesed the hell out of everything. and the few parts i had left over didnt make any difference.

 

TomP: I just looked that up now. I can't say that I remember there being any orange film in there, but I do definately remember blue film on the end of the circuit board that for sure was cracking and breaking off. The board was covered with some sticky stuff, too.

I know that the MAF sensor was shot because now that I got my new one, I've not had any problems at all. I really think the reason that it broke was because I didn't have my big "Y-pipe" intake thing sealed very well to the MAF sensor, so it let air and dirt and crap in which dirtied up the MAF sensor (it definately had some debris on it--not much, but it's not supposed to have *any*).

You know what's odd, though? The part that I got from O'Reilly's, while made by the same company that the old one was ("AC"), had some differences. First off, the socket faced downward (toward the ground and perpendicular to airflow) instead toward the engine like every other one that I've seen. But the thing that had me a bit concerned was when I noticed that the new MAF sensor has a smaller internal diameter than the old one. I put the new and the old side-by-side at the store, and the new one has to be like ~2-4 mm smaller than the old one. I told the manager, and he said that he agreed it was a "hair" smaller (definately smaller than just by a hair, though). And it's just the inside--the parts that connect to the intake and Y-pipe are the same size--it just gets smaller everywhere inbetween. I just hope that the size difference won't "suffocate" the intake enough to make a noticable performance hit... (I guess these little V6s aren't too air hungry, are they? )

 

I think that this is the same thing that is happening to me. It just started yesterday. I was driving on the highway and the rpms dropped all the way down like the car wasnt getting any fuel and then jumped back up. It happened again a few minutes later and the service engine soon light came on. It didnt happen again once the light came on. Is this the MAF as well??? Or could it be something else?? Thanks

Chris

 

Oh, I think you misunderstood what I meant by an orange frequency film. I don't mean a protective film over the circuit board. There's a small piece of almost see-thru orange plastic that sits in the middle of the sensor, surrounded by a circuit board. This film vibrates with the incoming airflow. High air flow = film vibrates a lot = high frequency seen by computer. Low air flow is the opposite, the orange frequency film sends the computer a low frequency signal. So if that film is bent or warped or kinked, it doesn't vibrate correctly, and the computer doesn't get a good signal.

88MARO, you should pull the code out of the computer (see the "miscellaneous" section of the Frequently Asked Questions page from the thirdgen.org main page) to see what error code was thrown; if it's 34, then it's MAF, otherwise, you might be trying to fix something that's not broken.

Oh yah and sancho, I had a funny looking parts store MAF once, too. Got one from Pep Boys, brought it home, and internally, it looked completely different. Still had the orange frequency film (v8 tpi's use a hot wire that gets cooled by airflow, not like our sensor), but the board looked different. Brought it back thinking it was a fluke, but their other two sensors looked the same. I found an original looking one from Strauss Auto, cost a bit more, but I still got a lifetime warranty with it.