VR6 MAF cleaning

[CrazyDave 0]

I used brake cleaner on mine, work fine and was much better at idle, slow speeds etc. But I have the later thin film type not a wire. So be very carefull or you will need a new one.

[eatthis 0]

the galaxy is obd1 so probably

[Skimask 0]

Takes the piss that Eurocar are charging £284.00.

 

Strangely, I had a quote from ECP for an OBD1 MAF for £160 - he didn't say if that was incl VAT. That was about 6 weeks ago and that there was only 1 in the company stock!!!

I was tempted!!!

[Skimask 0]

Takes the piss that Eurocar are charging £284.00.

 

Strangely I was quoted £160 for an OBD1 MAF from ECP about 6 weeks ago.

He did say there was only 1 in the company stock

[Skimask 0]

I cleaned the ISV, did look slightly sooty but seemed to operate quick enough. Idle doesn't hunt so much now but the pull away is still well flat, and most importantly the intermittent stalling remains.

 

Tried disconnecting the MAF completely and the engine stalled immediately so its doing something. May bite the bullet and go for the VAG one, confirmed as £212.69 including the VAT (#021 906 462 which is the later type on some '94 and all '95 VR6's). Takes the piss that Eurocar are charging £284.00.

 

Strangely I was quoted £160 for an OBD1 MAF from ECP about 6 weeks ago.

He did say there was only 1 in the company stock

[dr_mat 0]

There appears to be a triple-posting virus going around ...

[dr_mat 0]

There appears to be a triple-posting virus going around ...

Or, in fact, what's more commonly known as a "no-posting" broken forum by the look of it!

[dr_mat 0]

There appears to be a triple-posting virus going around ...

Or, in fact, what's more commonly known as a "no-posting" broken forum by the look of it!

[CorradoDriver 0]

Funny thing is i had the same exact problem about a 3 months ago. I would be driving all good and dandy and then car would shake and i would lose all power, foot would be to the floor and the car would refuse to go past 1500 2000 rpms. Now like everyone has been saying isv and MAF sensor might be dirty, i went out to my local auto store, down the street, picked up some intake cleaner for the isv and maf cleaner for the maf sensor, i also picked up some electrical parts cleaner. First i pulled the isv out and cleaned it. Its fun to clean it on white paper too see all the black gunk fall out, so u know ur cleaning something. Then i pulled the maf sensor out and cleaned that. From what i have heard its not good to use other stuff other than MAF sensor cleaner. Any ways i sprayed that and let it dry even though it dries right away. Connected that up, sprayed intake cleaner in teh intake lol, and finaly i used a qtip with the electrical cleaner and cleaned all the electrical plugs, actully only the maf plug, the isv plug and the two near the throttle body. Fixed the problem, took me about 20 min. Car was good as new, good luck,

[Andy T 0]

Took my MAF sensor off yesterday (late Film MAF, part no. ends 462) to clean it.

 

It looks alot different from the Hot wire MAF's, having two or three small parallel strips which look like printed circuit board, the film must be housed in them. It looked spotlessly clean and I didn't have any electrical contact cleaner so I left it alone, I wouldn't recommend using brake cleaner or any other harsh solvent on Film MAF's because it may damage the non-metallic parts.

 

Has anybody seen an improvement after cleaning a Film MAF that looked clean in the first place? I still have a rough idle dispite cleaning the whole intake system/ISV/damper and throttle body. I've also noticed its worse with electrical load on the engine, i.e lights, heated seats, rad fan etc. Could this mean that the ISV is not reacting properly?

[Rpmayne 0]

Must admit I haven't tried cleaning the MAF yet, still not hunting so recon cleaning the ISV sorted that out though. Keep thinking that at least its running, so may just order a new MAF rather than risk cleaning it and being without a car.

 

I haven't noticed turning things on drops the idle revs but when its about to stall it does dim the lights etc, which I thought was just due to the alternator not producing enough power at that speed. Turning the steering wheel quick when its just about to stall sometimes stops it, must somehow help the pulleys round abit so starting it again..

 

Think ECP were giving me quite a mark up then, would have ordered one for £160.

[dr_mat 0]

Has anybody seen an improvement after cleaning a Film MAF that looked clean in the first place? I still have a rough idle dispite cleaning the whole intake system/ISV/damper and throttle body. I've also noticed its worse with electrical load on the engine, i.e lights, heated seats, rad fan etc. Could this mean that the ISV is not reacting properly?

 

Sounds more like weak spark to me, which may be caused by a general voltage drop (which is the fault of the alternator or regulator), or a dodgy plug/lead/coil pack/dizzy ..

[Rick_ford55 0]

Dont know bout the stalling on your c but i have mentioned on here a couple o times bout the ISV playing up....with mine i used to get an dle from 500 -1000 up and down like i was pressing the accelertor then would settle really high i cleaned the isv with carb cleaner and hey presto nice unlumpy idle at about 600 rpms :) I have had to do this twice since i bought the car bout 1 2/2 years ago......Did i tell ya some fucker keyed the side of my car :bad-words:

[Andy T 0]

Has anybody seen an improvement after cleaning a Film MAF that looked clean in the first place? I still have a rough idle dispite cleaning the whole intake system/ISV/damper and throttle body. I've also noticed its worse with electrical load on the engine, i.e lights, heated seats, rad fan etc. Could this mean that the ISV is not reacting properly?

 

Sounds more like weak spark to me, which may be caused by a general voltage drop (which is the fault of the alternator or regulator), or a dodgy plug/lead/coil pack/dizzy ..[/quote:ead99]

 

Never thought of that. Battery was showing 13volts (engine running) when I had it on VAGCOM last week but I suppose could test it on a multimeter while switching the loads on and off. Regulator - is that part of the alternator? Leads are fairly recent, coilpack is split slightly on the outer casing/edge next to the 1&6 coil, but shows absolutely no arcing even when wet. Although I've read that they can fail internally without showing obvious signs.

[oxfordpaul 0]

I went through all this rigmarole with my MAF as it broke when I tried to clean it with alcohol. I researched it well and discovered from someone on here that the cheaper MAF that GSF sell will work on later OBD1 VR's although it's listed for OBD2 ones. It's about £70 from memory and someone on here had fitted it to a 95 Storm with no problems....

I replaced mine with a second hand one which is also fine.

[CorradoDriver 0]

My MAF looked spotless until i sprayed it with MAF cleaner on white paper, couldnt believe all the crap that came off, give it a try, doesnt hurt to clean

[Andy T 0]

Have just ordered some IPA (Isopropyl) circuit board cleaner from Buck & Hickman, which is 'quick drying and ideal for delicate electronics & circuitry'

 

I have a K&N filter so I guess there could be some oil on the MAF, will give it a clean at the w/kend.

[CorradoDriver 0]

any luck?

[Rpmayne 0]

I bought some circuit board cleaner from Maplin and sprayed the wire. There's also a blade with two wires running from it infront of the wire. I cleaned that with a cotton wool bud, washed the gause filters then reassembled. Removed quite a lot of grease and grime.

 

Took it for a 1/2 hour run, seemed to pick up better and didn't stall once. Really thought I had got lucky... but the next morning it was back to normal.

 

Oh well, another fault to add to the list.. Worth a try though.

[CorradoDriver 0]

wait besides the wires, did u clean the inside of the MAF?? where the sensors are located??

[Andy T 0]

Cleaned my Hot Film MAF last weekend, removed the sensor unit from the intake duct so I could get a proper look at it (requires a 'tamper-proof' Torx bit with a hole in the centre - PM me if you need one, I have a spare)

 

No visible dirt came off it after lightly spraying with IPA cleaner, and after refitting the idle is still rough (was worth doing anyway)

 

I wrote down the Bosch part number thats on the sensor (not visible unless removed from intake duct) I'll post it on here tonight, may help confirm that its identical to the cheaper OBD2 MAF's that GSF sell.

[Rpmayne 0]

I cleaned everything inside the maf housing except the wire itself. Went upto London this weekend and its never run so bad. Booked it into VW this friday, they sorted an alarm problem nobody else could sort so will give them another go. At 15mpg everywhere (very sooty exhaust) it won't take long to make back.

[Rpmayne 0]

Just as an update to the rough running / idle problems, I finally got the VR6 into the local VW to have a go.

 

They plugged the car in and the fault code they got was a faulty lambda probe. They suggested replacing the wiring loom connector to the lambda (had been crimped as the wires out of the original had broken).

 

Three days later they said it was all done as no error codes were present so £190 later I drove it home. Slightly sceptical that this was the end of the story, and sure enough on the way home the general running seemed abit better but the stalling worse than ever.

 

I'm not sure where to go now, the local garage have done all they can and to be honest I don't think VW are interested. They tried to tell me that the wiring had been modified so they couldn't do anymore... The modification they're talking about is grey harness tape I put on to cover the crap they put on originally which had fallen to bits.

 

On the way to work today, when depressing the clutch to change gear the revs drop off really quickly. Most of the time, if I don't change gear in time the revs just plummit to 0 with no effort to idle. I have to hold the throttle position abit longer now aswell because otherwise I end up engine braking on every gearchange.

 

Sorry to go on but any ideas?? Things changed as follows:

 

Coilpack

Leads

Plugs

Alternator

Battery

Temp. sensor

Crank position sensor

Cleaned MAF but no effect

[Andy T 0]

Sounds like you need to remove and clean out the ISV (Idle speed control valve) as problems with that will not show up on VAGCOM. Clean it out with carb cleaner, if that doesn't improve things you might have to source a new one. Try unplugging it first (it lives under the plug lead plastics at the back of the cyl. head), if it idles no worse, its probably dirty or broken.

 

I'm surprised the VW dealer didn't think to check the ISV, perhaps it just proves they don't know what to look for unless a computer points them in the right direction!

[Rpmayne 0]

Thanks Andy. I tried removing the ISV and cleaning it, and checked it worked straight across the battery. It did open and shut ok, haven't tried disconnecting it competely though so will try that tonight.

 

They must have known it was rough on the test drive, and this lunchtime it started to hunt again... Recon you're right about the computer.