Celica Hobby - MAF Sensor

Cleaning the MAF Sensor

Pictures & Edits by DiabloGTS

The Mass Air Flow sensor is crucial to the fuel systems operation. This is the sensor that the engine computer uses to measure how much air is entering the engine so that it may properly deliver the proper amount of fuel. A dirty MAF sensor hot wire may cause several problems to include: difficult start, poor acceleration, pinging, rough idling, to name a few. This whole procedure should take you less than ten minutes.

Use Q-Tips and "Carburetor & Throttle Body Cleaner" (A cleaner that will not attack plastic or leave a residue on the wires)

Pics are self explanatory

1. Locate the MAF Sensor on the air Intake pipe just behind the air filter box. Remove the MAF Sensor from the air Intake pipe by removing the two Phillips screws.

2. Disconnect the MAF Sensor wire harness by pressing the tab and pulling.

3. Spray cleaner on to the platinum wires liberally to clean off any built on dirt residue. You may want to remove the rubber o-ring around the housing to prevent the possibility of the cleaning agent making it brittle.

4. Inspect the platinum hot wire inside the MAF housing. You can see the air temperature thermistor on the side in this view.

5. Replace the cleaned MAF sensor back into air Intake pipe.

6. Put it all back together and you're done.

Here is a before and after MAF cleaning dyno chart plotting torque over RPM.

There's no magical power gain, but it's a good idea to keep your engine maintained.

Check the MAF for dirt and deposits every time you check the air filter, and that should help keep your engine running at top Performance.