MAF POLL

[Dan Clarke]

Hi,

I've oiled mine lightly twice with the supplied Pipercross oil. Once on top of another. I have no problems since I cleaned dust from the MAF.

Dan

I should mention the fact that the dust got in because I did not use care to insure that the panel was properly seated in the lower air box half.

Dan

[ July 26, 2001: Message edited by: Dan Clarke ]

 

[Tazzman]

I need this post to keep going I want all the one out there to post

I know there more,, I want to take it to the next plain against VW.


Tazz

 

[valois]

There is no silicone in the PiperCross oil.

 

[MineMapper]

'96 Passat 105K miles

Pipercross cone 5K miles ago. Erroneously over-oiled during install.

No MAF problems whatsoever.

Also no evidence in previous owners records (first 83K of any replacement).

Having duly jinxed myself, I will now try and find a replacement to carry with me.

 

[michTDI]

Almost 23,000 on original MAF and no problems (2001 Jetta TDI). I DID take the Piper X Cone out though and put OEM box back in. VW MAFs is one of only three design flaws IMHO. The other two are the relay 109 (which have been taken care of-with using the newer version in 2001), and lack of a decent "lower belly pan" or skidplate. ALL of the older relay 109s should be replaced by VW via a recall before somebody gets KILLED IMHO. MAFSs need to be redesigned-or at least beefed up-they are too wimpy. Same with belly pan.......

 

[GoFaster]

Tentatively add me to the "smoked MAF" list. I still have to check what the computer thinks is wrong ... but I'm pretty sure mine is heading south.

Brian P.
'96 Passat TDI mit UPsolute

 

[Maialetto]

jetta4 toasted maf, then toasted tazz's old(on its last legs)maf

justi

 

[2GreenTdi's]

Smoked MAF at 30K miles on highly moded A4 Jetta running Piper cone, but I believe it was caused by monkeys at an oil change shop.
They were spraying junk next to my car while it was running with hood up. I went back and told them and when I said how much a MAF was they said, "got proof it's our fault"!

I have an A4 Golf bone stock with 35K mi. that still has a good MAF. Although it has been cleaned once and yes power was better.
BTW: Best way is to pull out, but respect that baby.

 

[newadon]

I suspect my MAF is failing too, now it can barely go up to 90 mph when i traveled from SanFran to Las Vegas last week. When i disconnect the wires, i felt like hp is doubled ! Cleaning helps but not very obvious thou.

And btw, my car is completely stock, stock air box and everything.

[ August 17, 2001: Message edited by: newadon ]

 

[Kiwi]

My car is at the dealer right now, getting a new MAF installed. 2000 Jetta, 24,470 miles when the "check engine" came on...

Sigh.

 

[Tinker]

A3 Jetta
110,000Kms

No MAF sensor problems.

Knock on wood

 

[martytdi]

99 tdi 5 spd.53k. As of now MAF replaced by the dealer twice at no charge. The last time the screen was removed before the air filter.

 

[jimmy19673]

98 NB 39,000 miles MAF is dead going to buy one out of pocket from the guy that sells them here at Fred's.My 87 Caviliar Z24 had 220,000 mile never had a MAF or any other problems.Chevy People in motion.Volkswagon SUCKS!!

 

[valois]

It's obviously a defect. How many of you guys have had failures and still have your CCV connected? http://forums.tdiclub.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=3&t=005947
GoFaster, I would check it again, if indeed you are seeing a failing MAF you would have the dubious destinction of being the first A3/B4 MAF failure I have ever heard of.

 

[4wheeldrift]

Tanker, I have had the same experience as you. Two MAF failures with the Piper-X panel filter, lightly oiled per instructions. No oil to touch after blotting and prior to installation. After 2nd MAF replacement, I am using the OE filter. I have no proof that the filter and its oil caused the problems, but I feel more comfortable at this time using the OE filter. After two MAF replacements, I am playing it extra cautious. The Piper-X seems like a fine, high-quality product, I am sure I will be re-installing it in the future. I just need a few months of smooth sailing.

Regarding the CCV/MAF poll that Valois is raising, I am not sure it will give an accurate indication of cause. My guess is that a small percentage of A4 TDI owners are bypassed. Given this, most failures would be to non-bypassed cars based the percentage of those bypassed versus those not in the general TDI population. This cannot be a reasonable survey until you know the percentage of the population that is bypassed compared to the whole. Only knowing this can you draw conclusions to the poll. I know this is tough situation for many in the forum, but this poll seems destined to get a result that says "the majority of TDI owners with MAF problems did not have their CCVs bypassed". Whether this is by design (I doubt that) or due to improper polling procedures, the result is no indication of the cause of these problems.

[ August 17, 2001: Message edited by: 4wheeldrift ]

 

[valois]

MAF problems were known to occur in other models because of hot gas backwash from the intake, when the manufacturer eliminated the source in newer models the problems disipated to normal expected failure rates. Simply checking this thread indicates that the PiperX may hasten the demise, but is certainly not the culprit in MAF failures, there are too many that have had one go south on a stock air filter. You may be supprised at the results of the poll, so far no one has reported a MAF failure with the CCV bypassed. I am sure there are a few, but it's my guess the CCV hot gasses are a leading cause to MAF failure, along with vibration.

 

[Vroom]

Valois... I don't know much that goes on with the 1.8T's, but I know they're having a lot of MAF failures as well (and probably the 2.0 & VR6). Maybe it's a stupid question since I know virtually nil about the 1.8T's, but could those CCV hot gasses be a problem with them? I know they don't go around bypassing their CCV's and disabling their EGRs and all the other silly little things we like to do here in TDI land. I just think that whatever is causing these failures is most likely to be common on TDIs & 1.8T's. Would a 1.8T have a problem of these CCV hot gases as well?

 

[valois]

Yes , they have a PCV, plus the added problem of diverting their boost pressure just forward of the MAF. Here is a link to a poll over there, please vote. It clearly shows allot of failures, and most were with stock airfilters. http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?&id=65229

 

[iamasaint]

WELL GUESS WHAT!!!my maf went to hell in a han basket and my computer..the ECU is also fried and the cause was that DAMM device i got from..well know as the egr by pass the epssolian device soo at 4,500 mls on my 2001 gls tdi i was pissed and the stealer ship does not have the parts lol!!!soo my advice is screw that i am going back to stock and just do the ccv bypass and take my chances ..any one else have this problem????

 

[Dan Clarke]

bet you wired it up wrong.

 

[4wheeldrift]

Valois, you certainly know more about TDI engine systems than I and your theory about CCVs being a contributing factor in MAF failures is not in question, it may be the cause. My point is that your poll relating MAF failures to CCVs not being bypassed will not give us a true indication of CCVs and their relationship in the failure of MAFs. As someone who has done market research and has a knowledge of statistics, the poll as posed will not give a true indication as to the casue of the MAF failures. I would think an investigation that disects these failed MAFs to determine the cause would be a better method. This may not be posssible for technical reasons, but I know the poll as posed will not determine the cause.

 

[BillW]

B&C style airfilter. No ccv mod or Epsilonian device. I had to clean the MAF twice with non residue contact electronic aerosol cleaner. The engine runs much smoother now. I oiled the air filter twice to see it turn pink. Apparently this was too much, but I was worried that the air filter could not filter very well without having an even coating of oil. After two weeks, I noticed the car ran kind of rough on acceleration. I do not dare to see how high it will rev beyond todays experiment, because I got up to about 5,100 RPMs before I decided to back off in 4th gear on a free way entrance. The car justs runs so smoothly and is so rev happy without any roughness. I cleaned the MAF and my smooth ride came back to life. I noticed the oil pooled in the bottom of my airfilter housing. I cleaned everything really well. I think the airfilter is just right and there are no more MAF problems.

Keep oil off of the MAF's! They do not like that one bit! No total failure of my MAF yet, although the ccv sure does put out quite a bit of oil into the post MAF airway. I am going to have to solve that some how soon! With this much oil entering as Valois mentioned, I wonder why my MAF has not failed at 46,000 miles? A4, 1999, New Jetta.

 

[Tazzman]

I need to get to 100 or more to make this viable and make it work so keep it coming


Tazz

 

[Vroom]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by iamasaint:
WELL GUESS WHAT!!!my maf went to hell in a han basket and my computer..the ECU is also fried and the cause was that DAMM device i got from..well know as the egr by pass the epssolian device soo at 4,500 mls on my 2001 gls tdi i was pissed and the stealer ship does not have the parts lol!!!soo my advice is screw that i am going back to stock and just do the ccv bypass and take my chances ..any one else have this problem????

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I seriously doubt the EPS device fried your ECU... or did the dealer tell you that? It's just a diode placed in series in one line... I don't see how that could possibly fry an ECU.

 

[SoTxBill]

how bout how many went bad, what kind of air filter were you using, and did the bad one have the resistor on it like the german ones or did it not have the resistor on it like the ones made in hungary... miles, date, driving type... to help develop a track record..

i think from talking with 2greentdi,, that the ones made in hungary with out the resistor are running too much current and more susceptable to failure...

 

[2GreenTdi's]

Bill, I side with Rene on the CCV because the fried MAF I had replaced could certainly be described as having been damaged with oil vapors. Remember the photo I showed you.
I for one, am damn glad I joined the federation. The guy who said his ECU was fried by bypass probably is listening to the dealer who would tell someone that for lack of knowledge of what causes the ECU's to fail or because they think their passing the buck. I'm reffering all my questions to my Labrador Retriever after talking to dealers.
She usually helps me more.
Also, of all the MAF's I pulled at the San Antonio GTG every one of them had dust on them. Stock filtered MAF's were found to be as dirty or dirtier than aftermarkets.

 

[Turbo Steve]

I suspect that a certain percentage of A-4 MAF's will fail no matter what the owner does. This is probably do to a low quality effort to put key components together or the use of deficient materials to keep profits high and the wholesale cost down.

Heat and vibration naturally only speedup the process of this device failing a little sooner than it would have anyways. This explains why plent of stock TDI's and gassers are having the same exact problem.

Frankly, the type of air filter used seems to only come into play with getting the Film Sensor dirty more quickly and I doubt that this is the main problem.

 

[Turbo Steve]

P.S.

The OEM pipe running from the Air Box to Turbo is way too small in my opinion and thus it's possible to easily transport heat back to the MAF.

I'm doubling it's size this next week with a new, much larger pipe.

 

[SoTxBill]

its interesting that some have the resistor and some dont,,,

could that be a problem??

its obvious that there are more than 1 supplier for the same part... do we have any statistics on which one is failing???

guys, i guess what im saying is that we need to gather more info and background to truly find cause and effect...

do you have a oil-type filter?
what kind of recharge kit did you use?
did your dealer spray the shinny silcon based spray on you engine so make the plastic parts shine??
have you every sprayed your tires?
if so with what..
did you pay for the silcon finish on your car from the dealer?
what kind of wax have you put on your car?
is it silicone based?
did your bad maf have the resistor?
did it say "made in hungry"?
or did you have the maf that says boch and made in germany?

I think sometimes we tend to shoot from the hip on this..

 

[valois]

It can't fry the ECU Vroom, you are correct, but I guess it's good as anything to blame when you are confused,

SOme people are just better off not olaying with their cars. RIc gets by most of the time by considering everthing just fine and not touching it. Could you imagine if he got a wild hair one day and decided to fix something.

As far as whether the blowby gasses contribute to MAF failures , we shall see, So far I do not see anyone that has had the CCV bypassed posting their MAF failed. Keep in mind, if you bypassed at 50,000 miles and the MAF failed at 60,000 I would not consider it valid as most of the damage has been done.