mass air sensor details

[bio243]

in a 99, i need some help understanding the exact details of how the mass air sensor actually makes it's measurements. what function do the various plastic peices do (the plastic mesh-like screen, and the wind vane thingy)? what it really boils down to is this: will it function at least on a temporary basis without the plastic peices in the middle of it? the actual sensors all seem to be in place, just none of the plastic. thanks for your help.

[EvilSpeeder]

I THINK its a hotwire sensor. It heats the screen and measures how much it cools down due to airflow across it (measures the resistance to determine this IIRC). It might not work with the plastic pieces because removing them changes the effective flow area which is something that it's counting on being constant. You can try it, i don't think it would hurt anything unless you run lean under boost (but you knew that). What happened to the plastic?

[Majik]

FYI, they are $90 from a junk yard and 150 from a dealer.....

[bio243]

What happened to the plastic?

nitrous backfire...looks like a bomb went off in the intake hose...k&n looks like a popped popcorn kernal. blew peices of the MAF sensor all over the place...not the fault of the nitrous...my fault for not thinking through the idea of a standing start in second with a 75 shot at 2500 rpms. (doh!)

[channelmaniac]

Is that all that blew up?

[EvilSpeeder]

Wow!! So I'm guessing it stalled mid spray and thats when it backfired?

[bio243]

well, i launched, it bogged down to about 2500 rpms and just when it started to pick up BOOM!. drove to the end of the track and popped the hood. it blew my custom 5 dollar intake hose off the tb, blew the pcv valve out of the valve cover, tried to turn the K&N inside out and blew one side of the MAF sensor out along with all the internal plastic and blew the wires to the MAF in half. it drove home from the track with the CEL on, and would automatically run to 3000 rpms in nuetral. the sensor elements all seem to be in place, but after a carefully attempted repair (with duct tape) i got the out side of the sensor put back on and wires spliced back together (no i didn't use duct tape on the wires) and put it all back together. it runs alright and idles correct most of the time, but after attempting to clear the code a few times i realize that the MAF is dead. the car will be ok for a few days, but the CEL is on and it's running in closed loop (really rich). so when i get a new one it'll be fine. thanks for everybody's help

[beagleracing]

i've got one for sale, if you're interested. $75.

dp