Air Flow Sensor Cleaning

[svf]

How often do we need to clean Air Flow Sensor?

How does this affect the fuel efficiency and overall performance of the car?

WHat is the best cleaning product (Cleaner) available in SL for cleaning of Air Flow Sensors?

[Elvis_Pil]

I clean its every 5000kms or so. It may need to be cleaned earlier if you drive in ultra dusty conditions or use a cone filter.

It effects the fuel and performance of the car since the Car's ECU relies on its reading to maintain the most efficient air-fuel mixture for the engine & conditions

Look for 'contact cleaner'. Most brands will do the job well. Wurth should have a product as well

[Ripper]

IME...carb cleaner works well

[JohnGalt]

  On 5/5/2011 at 3:31 AM, Ripper said:

IME...carb cleaner works well

I thought carb cleaner and contact cleaner are two distinct products. Are they not? [didn't bother to read empty cans ;-)]

[Ripper]

  On 5/5/2011 at 3:50 AM, JohnGalt said:

I thought carb cleaner and contact cleaner are two distinct products. Are they not? [didn't bother to read empty cans ;-)]

yes they are two different ones.

contact cleaner is more milder in certain ways and cen get rid of oxidations on electrical bits and the likes. hence the term "contact"...

they work well to clean up switches and relay contact points etc etc

carb cleaner takes out gunk, oxidations, varnishings etc etc

very effective stuff but don't let it get it in your eyes It's bloody painful as i found out during avurudu holidays after stripping my bike carb

[evergreen]

  On 5/5/2011 at 3:07 AM, Elvis_Pil said:

I clean its every 5000kms or so. It may need to be cleaned earlier if you drive in ultra dusty conditions or use a cone filter.

It effects the fuel and performance of the car since the Car's ECU relies on its reading to maintain the most efficient air-fuel mixture for the engine & conditions

Look for 'contact cleaner'. Most brands will do the job well. Wurth should have a product as well

waht are the symptoms of a problamatic air flow sensor??

[Elvis_Pil]

  On 5/5/2011 at 6:15 AM, evergreen said:

waht are the symptoms of a problamatic air flow sensor??

Varies from car to car- model to model.

If the engine has muti-stage variable value timing system- the stages may not activate or it may activate late, other than that you may have a 'rough start' in the mornings, rough or fluctuating idle and poor gas mileage.

[Elvis_Pil]

  On 5/5/2011 at 3:31 AM, Ripper said:

IME...carb cleaner works well

Just a thought- will not carb cleaner be a bit too harsh for an electronic sensor? and also since they are covered in plastic and silicon bits.. On the Civic I used to spray a cloth with carb cleaner and then clean only AFS contact point which used to be a nice bit of metal jutting out. But I don't think newer AFS's come the same way

[evergreen]

  On 5/5/2011 at 6:23 AM, Elvis_Pil said:

Varies from car to car- model to model.

If the engine has muti-stage variable value timing system- the stages may not activate or it may activate late, other than that you may have a 'rough start' in the mornings, rough or fluctuating idle and poor gas mileage.

could the backfiring be a result of a bad af sensor??

[Muditha420]

hmm m having few symptoms relating to these but I'm having a MAP sensor. this includes gas millage, slow acceleration etc. any ideas on how u can tackle a MAP sensor?

[Elvis_Pil]

  On 5/5/2011 at 6:43 AM, evergreen said:

could the backfiring be a result of a bad af sensor??

Hard to say- back faring usually happens due to engine timing issues. Usually the car's ECU should kick in with a default fail save mode in order to prevent the Engine getting harmed in the case of a malfunctioning sensor and therefore a backfire maybe avoided

[Ripper]

  On 5/5/2011 at 6:26 AM, Elvis_Pil said:

Just a thought- will not carb cleaner be a bit too harsh for an electronic sensor? and also since they are covered in plastic and silicon bits.. On the Civic I used to spray a cloth with carb cleaner and then clean only AFS contact point which used to be a nice bit of metal jutting out. But I don't think newer AFS's come the same way

ah bummer...i got MAF and o2 sensors mixed up

i used carb cleaner on the 02 sensor and not the maf...my toyota didn't have a maf...only two 02 sensors

and you're right... carb cleaner will be too harsh if there are "electronic" bits in there...

i thought they'd only have some metal bits and carb cleaner works very well with metal stuff