I always thought my MAF was fine, for the past 2.5 years. But I always noticed that it didnt seem to run any better at full throttle than 1/2, and I couldnt stay at WOT for more than a few seconds....I thought I had other issues, cause the MAF reading seemed fine. Cleaning it didnt help. I found the car started running terrible if I touched any of the 3 MAF wires, and if I moved them around, it ran better again. I made a whole new MAF harness which looks OEM..really nice setup and it did make a difference. Then the next day the car fell on its face and wouldnt take any throttle without major stumbling. Tore my MAF apart and found the problem but couldnt fix it. Found a remanufactured one for 45 bucks at autozone. I still cant believe what it did for the car. I can stay in the throttle now, and drivability/power has improved dramatically. Guess what Im saying is, do several WOT runs and see if the MAF reading changes at all from run to run. If so, just cleaning the MAF may not cure the issue, and even replacing it may not cure it. The wires are so old on these cars that I dont trust any bundle thats been folded, bent or tweaked repeatedly through the years. The strands inside tear and create an intermittent connection. I found the same problem with my ECM power wire. It was intermittent, and there were no obvious signs of it. But repairing it made a big difference in drivability as well. I think alot of times we replace sensors thinking that they're the issue when in fact it may be marginal wiring. People tap on the MAF to see if the idle changes, and if it does, then it must be the MAF...well banging on the MAF also vibrates/moves the wires...this was a problem I had. So when the motor is idling, wiggle all the wires around...anywhere you can where theyve been abused through the years and see if any of them are bad and repair them.
To clean the MAF thermode, I usually just use acetone and a q-tip....nothing wrong with doing it this way if you're careful.
i cant believe how dirty it is. anyways is there any safe way to clean it? i was thinking just using a q tip and rubbing it ever so lightly on the screen and areas. im not sure about spraying it with anything but please let me know. im going to swap it out with a 14,000 mile MAF but im going to have to put mine back on.