How to clean your MAF

psmart

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Sprint'n'Go said:
1st, Air filter
2nd, Turbo
3rd, Oil breather joins main piping just inches after turbo
4th, Intercooler
5th, Maf/Mas housing
6th, Inlet Manifold
Very different, on the ML and the C, the following is the ordering:
1st, Air filter
2nd, MAF
3rd, oil breather inches before turbo,
4th, Turbo
5th, Intercooler
6th, Charge air temperature sensor and Boost Pressure Sensor
7th, EGS
8th, Inlet manifold.

As you say, theyve obviously designed the vans to have oil on the MAF, so the oil coating properties cant affect MAF readings that much.

After completely cleaning the inlet/ic on my car, it was only a matter of about 20 miles before I noticed oil on the Charge air temperature and Boost Pressure Sensor, but this was to be expected, seeing as the breather was being 'sucked' upon by the turbo.

So, sounds like cleaning the MAF, ie. oil off, may not actually help. Strange why they have the same engine plumbed differently... Is your turbo a VNT turbo, or have they used a standard wastegated turbo?
 

Sprint'n'Go

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psmart said:
Strange why they have the same engine plumbed differently... Is your turbo a VNT turbo, or have they used a standard wastegated turbo?

Definitely a VNT, only the lowly 208/308 has the standard old fashioned turbo.

psmart said:
6th, Charge air temperature sensor and Boost Pressure Sensor

This must be the other component wired into the Maf housing? I couldn't tell what it was as it is in a deep hole running off the main housing with an electrical socket on the outside.
 

Sprint'n'Go

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psmart said:
Very different, on the ML and the C, the following is the ordering:
1st, Air filter
2nd, MAF
3rd, oil breather inches before turbo,
4th, Turbo
5th, Intercooler
6th, Charge air temperature sensor and Boost Pressure Sensor
7th, EGS
8th, Inlet manifold.

As you say, theyve obviously designed the vans to have oil on the MAF, so the oil coating properties cant affect MAF readings that much.

After completely cleaning the inlet/ic on my car, it was only a matter of about 20 miles before I noticed oil on the Charge air temperature and Boost Pressure Sensor, but this was to be expected, seeing as the breather was being 'sucked' upon by the turbo.

So, sounds like cleaning the MAF, ie. oil off, may not actually help. Strange why they have the same engine plumbed differently... Is your turbo a VNT turbo, or have they used a standard wastegated turbo?

Sorry Smart, your description of the breather location got me wondering.........surely the engine will be unable to breath against the pressure from the turbo so I popped the bonnet and checked and you are quite right, the breather is before the turbo not after. It also has an electrical device in the breather pipe at the joint with a plug on the outside. I wonder what this is? Any ideas.
 

psmart

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Sprint'n'Go said:
It also has an electrical device in the breather pipe at the joint with a plug on the outside. I wonder what this is? Any ideas.
We dissassembled this during our 'strip an ML down to find a needle' escapade! Its a temperature sensor (thermistor), at least thats what it appeared to be, ie. 2 connections and its resistance increased/decreased with temperature. I presume its to monitor the temperatures that the breather gasses are entering the inlet system at.

The Boost Pressure Sensor on the ML and C was bolted into the air pipe leaving the intercooler, it was triangular shaped at either end with a round centre and two bolts holding it in place, along with the 3 pin (I think) wire which plugged into it. The Charge Air temperature sensor was clipped into the top right hand part of the intercooler. With your MAF being just before the inlet manifold, you wont need a Charge Air temperature sensor as the MAF contains a thermistor (temperature sensor).

The good thing about the Charge Air temperature sensor is that you can pull it out and plug a boost guage into it, to measure the boost pressure from the turbo!
 

liteuser

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this thread has been a great help to me,
thank you for posting it.................
 

edward28

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I own a 99 C220 cdi auto and recent had the problem about 9mths of a leaking injector which was replaced and the old seal helicoiled out, anyway recently i changed the air filter and a day later when cold my car seems to chug and the body vibrates...so i have cleaned the MAF still is the same, now i have put some diesel cleaner though so i hope it will run better, note that when warm the car is great......does anyone have any ideas???? Thanks Edward
 

Sprint'n'Go

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edward28 said:
I own a 99 C220 cdi auto and recent had the problem about 9mths of a leaking injector which was replaced and the old seal helicoiled out, anyway recently i changed the air filter and a day later when cold my car seems to chug and the body vibrates...so i have cleaned the MAF still is the same, now i have put some diesel cleaner though so i hope it will run better, note that when warm the car is great......does anyone have any ideas???? Thanks Edward

I had chugging and rough engine when cold when an injector was starting to fail. It only happened when cold and for about 5-10 seconds after starting and then cleared and was fine for the rest of the day.

Perhaps this could be your problem?
 

eric242340

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you should never, never, never use any chemicals on a MAF/Air flow sensor. The sensors are coated with chemicals from the factory. If you break these chemicals down by using //cleaning chemicals// very fast they will fail.
 

bigasotonuk

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you should never, never, never use any chemicals on a MAF/Air flow sensor. The sensors are coated with chemicals from the factory. If you break these chemicals down by using //cleaning chemicals// very fast they will fail.

Hi,
Have to agree with you on this point my MAF sensor showned symptons at approx 60-65000 miles lived if the symptons till 113000 cleaned MAF and developed a whole new set of problems bought new from e-bay £52 like a new car
I think the cleaner i used must of destroyed a varnish or coating on sensor element.
Cleaned air flow meter on my old M535I (good results) with a toothbrush and carb cleaner, too of broken this would of been very hard yet my merc you could of snapped off with a finger both bosch systems doing same job so why the vast difference in quality
Strikes me could be designed to fail
Has anyone got ant thoughts?
 

ProfessorX

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So when cleaning the MAF. with regards to the IPA170 spray - I assume it is safe to use this on the tupe itself and surrounding areas but NOT directly on the sensor itself? If that is the case I believe mine will be coming off to have its bottom wiped shortly - if the previous ATF change does not do the trick.
 

television

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So when cleaning the MAF. with regards to the IPA170 spray - I assume it is safe to use this on the tupe itself and surrounding areas but NOT directly on the sensor itself? If that is the case I believe mine will be coming off to have its bottom wiped shortly - if the previous ATF change does not do the trick.

It is the contamination on the sensor that causes the problem, and alters the charactistics of the MAF.

Malcolm
 

secunda

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U R Right !!

i dont know wether this has been said but after seeing your rather mucky finger, can you imagine what the throttle body must look like? a thorough clean (whilst holding open the throttle) with carb cleaner generally does the trick. check tickover before and after...you be supprised.

YES...CLEANED MY INLET AND THROTTLE BODY TODAY WITH CARB/INJECTOR CLEANER (£4.99 HALFORDS), AND IT VISIBLY DISOVLED THE MUCK. THE C180 W202 TICKS OVER ALOT BETTER NOW. NEED ANOTHER CAN OF IT THOUGH COS I WANT TO CLEAN THE MAF AS PARROTT SUGGESTS.


IS THE MAF ON A C180 W202 WITHIN THE PART OF THE PIPE WHERE THE AIRFLOW PLUG IS ???
 

chazzer

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Air Filter

I took the entire air filter out when trying to access the exhaust manifold. It was a pig to get back and i wasn't happy with the seal on the top even after several attempts.

Since Ive just clocked 100k I think ill investigate the MAF too.

Beats cleaning the gutters

Chazzer

CLK230 K Avantgarde Cab
 

The Rock

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I did exactly the same and went one step further by removing the MAF from it's housing to clean it, carefully of course. The plastic filter just before the MAF was also very dirty and partly clogged. Since then, my 300TD has never gone so well. In fact, I can honestly say the performance is outstanding compared to before. I'd recommend doing it.
 

pc1962

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I did exactly the same and went one step further by removing the MAF from it's housing to clean it, carefully of course. The plastic filter just before the MAF was also very dirty and partly clogged. Since then, my 300TD has never gone so well. In fact, I can honestly say the performance is outstanding compared to before. I'd recommend doing it.

Hi all,

Sorry to highjack, but, I've a c220CDi 2001 with 50000 on the clock. Just got the car in june and has always been a little tempramental from cold for a few minutes. However, recently say the last 2 months its started becoming horrendously sluggish from cold to the extent that the engine will stall on takeoff due to lack of power. Give it a few minutes and its a rocket again.

Does this sound like the MAF sensor to you guys?

Thanks for any help
PC:D
 

pc1962

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Sorry maybe should have added it's a manual box!

Cheers
PC:D
 

D3Less

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Don't know if cleaning the MAF is the answer but it is a very easy thing to do anyway, just follow the instructions on this thread and use the correct cleaner. Certainly worth doing / trying.
 

Pipemaster

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I knew a girl who could use such detailed advice on cleaning her MAF :wink:
 

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