How do you clean a mass airflow sensor on a 97 nissan maxima?

Question

I pulled the codes on my car and it said something about the mass airflow sensor, what should i do?

Answer 1

you can really harm your senson and ulimately your engine if you try to clean it. Best bet is to replace it. If you're really brave, try alcohol and a Q-tip but be very certain you don't leave any fibers behind on the sensor or you'll just end up replacing it anyway.

Answer 2

Throttle body cleaner is safe to use on any vehicle with a throttle body as it does not melt rubber or plastic parts or sensors and pieces in or around the throttle body.

Carburetor cleaner, on the other hand, will melt sensors and certain rubber or plastic parts and damage sensors in and around the throttle body.

Usually when you get a code indicating the MAF (Mass Air Flow sensor) the sensor is either bad or there is no power going to it. Quite often because the plug is corroded that plugs into the sensor.

The Maxima is similar to other Nissan vehicles where everything seems to go wrong at once after so many years of low maintenance. Unbelieveably, most Nissan models do not have aftermarket "pig tails"or new plugs that can be purchased to replace a bad plug that is corroded or broken and they will have to sell you an entire wire harness for several hundred dollars. And several hundred dollars to install. Many European manufactured cars like SAAB are the same way.

The only way to be this rip-off engineering/marketing problem is to find a decent junkyard car and cut the wire plug or pig tail off of it and install it on your car.

Good Luck!