CAI + Water = bad MAF? how to check maf?

[Street Sleeper]

so, we've talked about thus much, but i recently installed an AEM cold air intake, and a forge bpv. got caught in a heavy downpour and was forced to drive through some waterlogged streets. nothing major, but definatley large puddles. i drove as slow as i could, fearing the dreaded hydrolock.

i felt like afterwards my car was slow, with noticeable hesitation in 3rd WOT. just felt it was dragging a bit...maybe it was mental, i dont know, but i felt something after the water tread.

i changed my plugs, thinking that probably it wouldnt do much, and it seemed to have made a difference. the plugs were a nice tan/chocolate color, nothing noticeably wrong, but felt like it was smoother and faster.

Sooo, im more inclined to think the maf might have gotten fouled out or something. is there anyway to check/inspect? or should i just replace?

btw, i just got the water repellent sock thing to cover my filter.

 

[Igve2shtz]

One, count your blessings that the engine still works. Thats problem number 1.

I'm guessing that its been a while since it happened, but I had a wet filter cause acceleration problems before.

I would say to spray the MAF with some MAF cleaner as some of the oil from the filter may have gotten on it. Then maybe unplug the battery and reset the ECU afterwards. Good luck!

 

[Street Sleeper]

now that im thinking about it more, the improved peformance may have come not from the sparkplugs, but from disconnecting the battery and resetting the ecu.

however, what type of "MAF cleaner" are you talking about more specifically?

 

[silver_speed6]

Well, I've had my AEM CAI on for about two months now. I've driven through some torrential downpours here in Cinci and I thought my speed drove a tad sluggish as well. I think once the rain stopped, things felt much better. From what I've read you have to SUBMERGE your intake in water to hydrolock so I think as long as you aren't trying to ford the river like on Oregon Trail, you're fine. To be safe I put the medium size Injen hydroshield on my filter.

 

[SicSpeed]

You dont have to replace your maf. Do a search on how to clean a maf, its pretty easy. You will need a contact cleaner spray, buy u can get this pretty much any auto store.

If your maf gets wet, it will not read properly hence it may sputter/stall run rough etc...
Maf will need to be cleaned eventually anyways.

Basically remove your neg battery. Remove maf screws, unplug maf, remove o-ring from maf, spray maf with cleaner(the amber drop) and into the housing, shake gently repeat, air dry(do not touch sensor) reverse of install.

Thats it

 

[Street Sleeper]

THanks folks. kinda confirming what i was thinking, i'll give it a shot and let ya know how it goes.

 

[TX Speed 6]

Its not a bad MAF or anything, its just a wet filter, once it drys out it will be ok. This is because small amounts of water are getting into your engine, but not enough to hydrolock, just enough to piss off your ECU/engine (i'm guessing because water does not compress like air/fuel does, but I'm not sure)

You will be fine with the Injen Med. pre-filter, and you do NOT NEED TO SUBMERGE YOUR INTAKE TO HYDROLOCK. Trust me! It happened to me in ankle deep water here in S.A.

No more issues after the I installed my Injen pre-filter. That said, never hurts to go ahead and clean your MAF anyways! Autozone/Advance Auto will have a cleaner specifically for it, usually near all the octane boost/marvel mystery stuff.

 

[Street Sleeper]

got the maf cleaned. seems to be running well now. no hesitation. combo of the plug change, maf clean and most likely the ecu reset. i have the injen prefilter installed now too. this post helped in the process: http://www.msprotege.com/forum/showthread.php?p=3672096