Can You Drive With A Bad Mass Air Flow Sensor

The job of the mass air flow sensor is to keep track of the amount of air coming in through the air filter so that the ecu can adjust the amount of fuel getting into the engine.

Can you drive with a bad mass air flow sensor.

You ll notice if the tailpipes eject black smoke or when the engine runs rough or backfires. The pcm uses this input to calculate engine load. If your car is. This is understandable with a bad mass air flow sensor because it will cause the internal combustion chamber to have an inadequate mixture of air and gasoline.

Mass airflow sensors maf have the responsibility of reporting the amount of air entering the engine to the powertrain control module pcm. The mass air flow maf sensor part of your vehicle s electronic fuel injection system is responsible for calculating the total amount of air entering the engine. In most cases a faulty mass flow sensor has a specific code that will generate during computer diagnostics and is usually easy to determine with computer testing equipment. It is a simple thing that you can do to narrow the car problem down.

You can drive your vehicle with a bad mass air flow sensor for a while but it is not advisable to continue doing so for a long time even if your car can still run and that is because ignoring your car maf sensor problem can escalate beyond just the mass air flow sensor problem to a more severe engine problem that might even require getting a. Therefore on average you are expected to pay 200 to 400 in total for a mass air flow sensor replacement. A faulty maf sensor can cause your vehicle to run too rich or run too lean. In this video i tell you how to tell if you need a mass air flow sensor.

Firstly the part itself can come in a variety of qualities. The price you get for the replacement can vary due to a variety of factors. If the mass air flow sensor isn t working properly then you will be faced with one or more symptoms such as lack of power and bad fuel economy. On top of testing the mass airflow sensor by disconnecting it you can also test some of your vehicles other sensors by disconnecting the mass airflow sensor.

There are several designs of maf sensors but the most common by far is the hot wire maf sensor. You can get a genuine air flow sensor or you could get off market sensors. If you believe your car has a faulty mass air flow sensor take it to a qualified mechanic so that a complete computer diagnostic can be run.