MAF Failed

Buzz · 12-14-2005, 08:24 PM

Did the 15k service on my Titan last Saturday at 15,053.

Sunday went to the ATM then hit the freeway to hook up with some friends. Barely a half mile on the freeway the truck lost power and went to idle. I thought I lost the rear end at first. Got her off the road and she died.

Truck would start and run a few seconds then die. Nope not the rear end. Maybe a fuel pump.

Called a tow truck and had it towed to the dealer. Got a call on Monday that they might look at it that afternoon. Told them while they had it in to maybe do the BCM recall as well if they had the parts.

They had it done on Tuesday. MAF had failed and they did do the BCM recall.

Truck barely had 12 miles on it since I did the 15k service. Guess changing the air filter must have put the MAF over the edge.

So far, so good.

37L1 · 12-14-2005, 09:43 PM

Sorry to hear that Buzz.

My guess is that failure 12 miles after the 15K service, someone at the service department, f'd up. Where did you get it done, Boardwalk?

Buzz · 12-14-2005, 09:52 PM

Nope Lon.

Dan and I did the 15k service. Changed the Air Filter with the OEM filter bought from Boardwalk for $9.87.

Boardwalk did the warranty repair work and it runs just fine now.

I just wonder if and when I finally buy the Volant if this will happen again.

Anyone know what a MAF sensor costs?

37L1 · 12-14-2005, 09:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buzz

Nope Lon.

Dan and I did the 15k service. Changed the Air Filter with the OEM filter bought from Boardwalk for $9.87.

Boardwalk did the warranty repair work and it runs just fine now.

I just wonder if and when I finally buy the Volant if this will happen again.

Anyone know what a MAF sensor costs?

They ain't cheap.

So far I have installed 3 Volant's and none have experienced MAF failure. In fact I don't recall seeing any MAF problems except for a few who had issues with the K&N.

TitanTech659 · 12-15-2005, 12:59 AM

MAF are expensive. If you add aftermarket cold air intake kits, you will more than likely pop the MAF. I've seen it many times. After market air filters cause issues and it's hard to get the MAF warrantied.

Armada · 12-15-2005, 11:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TitanTech659

MAF are expensive. If you add aftermarket cold air intake kits, you will more than likely pop the MAF. I've seen it many times. After market air filters cause issues and it's hard to get the MAF warrantied.

With respect, I have to take issue with this statement. I've been running K&N cone type filters for many years on a broad variety of vehicles and have not had this happen.

Note that the failure in question occurred with a factory filter. If there had been a K&N or other oiled gauze filter on the vehicle, the dealer would have jumped on that and claimed it was the cause.

MAF's fail for a lot of reasons and for no reason at all. And, if oil ever were to be the reason for a MAF malfunction, there are tons of information in general service manuals and in Internet postings that most fouled MAF's (usually caused by exhaust recirculation in older engines) can be easily cleaned by spraying an atomized alcohol or other electric or electronic cleaning solution onto the MAF element.

Here's how you do it on the Ford modular V8 engines:

http://www.fordf150.net/howto/clean-...low-sensor.php

casique · 12-16-2005, 09:18 AM

I've had my Volant installed for over a year with no problem.

**loufish** · 12-16-2005, 05:41 PM

I take issue with your dealers explaination...you don't need the MAF to drive...I'll say it again, if you dis-connect your MAF, you can hop in the truck, fire it up(it will idle)and drive around.
It won't drive correctly, and may shift funny, but you will get home.

TitanTech659 · 12-17-2005, 02:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Armada

With respect, I have to take issue with this statement. I've been running K&N cone type filters for many years on a broad variety of vehicles and have not had this happen.

Note that the failure in question occurred with a factory filter. If there had been a K&N or other oiled gauze filter on the vehicle, the dealer would have jumped on that and claimed it was the cause.

MAF's fail for a lot of reasons and for no reason at all. And, if oil ever were to be the reason for a MAF malfunction, there are tons of information in general service manuals and in Internet postings that most fouled MAF's (usually caused by exhaust recirculation in older engines) can be easily cleaned by spraying an atomized alcohol or other electric or electronic cleaning solution onto the MAF element.

Here's how you do it on the Ford modular V8 engines:

http://www.fordf150.net/howto/clean-...low-sensor.php

As an ASE Certified Nissan Technician, I fully understand how a MAF works and what makes them not work. I was just making a simple statement based on what I have experienced. The most frequent reason for failure, again from my experience, is an aftermarket air filter. And yes, I did see that he had an OEM filter. I do know of aftermarket filters that will not harm MAF. The ones that the customer buys to save a few bucks are usually the ones that cause failures.

TitanTech659 · 12-17-2005, 02:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by loufish

I take issue with your dealers explaination...you don't need the MAF to drive...I'll say it again, if you dis-connect your MAF, you can hop in the truck, fire it up(it will idle)and drive around.
It won't drive correctly, and may shift funny, but you will get home.

loufish is right. If you disconnect the MAF the ECM will go into safe-mode and you CAN drive it. The truck will act P'd off but it will run. But, out on the road in the middle of nowhere it's hard telling what the problem is and it is best to get it towed than to start disconnecting things under the hood.

onthefence · 12-18-2005, 09:32 AM

I showed up to pick up Buzz and drive him home.
As a former ASE Master Tech I too thought that a MAF failure wouldn't strand the vehicle, just as said before, it would start, the idle would drop until the engine died in about 3 seconds. Any attempt adding throttle killed the engine immediately. My gut told me it was a fuel supply issue, the dealer's paperwork says otherwise,,,,,

TitanTech659 · 12-18-2005, 12:31 PM

Yea, that is a the typical behavior for a failed MAF. It also would sound like a fuel pump failure. I would have guessed fuel pump issue as well due to having to replace a few fuel sending units for false fuel level readings in Titans. Fuel tank was empty when the gauge said it was 1/4 to 1/2 full. The truck would run for a bit then just die. I did a gauge sweep to make sure the gauge was working and it did. Went and added some fuel and could not get the truck to die. Replaced the fuel sending unit and sent him down the road. He has not had problems since. I have yet to see a MAF failure in a Titan with an OEM filter. If you would have disconnected the MAF he could have driven the truck to the shop. But how would you REALLY know it was the MAF without seeing it happen in more Titans and without a scan tool out in the field.

Armada · 12-18-2005, 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TitanTech659

I have yet to see a MAF failure in a Titan with an OEM filter.

What about the guy that started this thread, took his truck into a Nissan dealer for his 15,000 mile check, got 12 miles on it after service and had a MAF failure using nothing but Nissan OEM filter?

37L1 · 12-18-2005, 03:49 PM

He did his own 15K service and replaced the air filter with a stock OEM then after the MAF failed he took it to Nissan for diagnosis and found the MAF had failed.

Armada · 12-18-2005, 05:34 PM

You're right and thanks for correcting me. My point is that the truck had only OEM air filters.