Sorry if this has been covered a million times but I always hear about the MAF sensors going on scoobs and then thats it, game over !

I know its the mass airflow sensor but whats the crack with it, why do they break ?, are they really that weak ?, whats the symptoms for failure ?, I dont suppose theres a dash light to warn of failure ! etc etc

Cheers in advance for the n00b post replies

 

My MAF sensor has gone before. My car was running lean apparently after it went and there was no warning light or indication that it had gone other than the cars fuel cut coming in and it generally not running right. Expensive to replace too!

 

mine when Twice, 1st time i was not happy with the way it was running, just felt like it was holding back, and i could not sit at say 70mph without the car juddering, changed maf, all working fine, 2months after having it fitted was out on a run, and the maf just failed no warning, just engine when dead all lights lit up, and no way was i driving 50mph without a maf in, sent it back under 12m warr, all sorted now, but i car spare in the boot all the time,

as for cost it depends on what year you have, for the V5 and V6 there only £91 from subaru or £75 from clinic on ebay, so they arnt that bad,

If its a early model, mmmmm they do cost, best of taking your chance on ebay for £30 and see if it fixes it, as them new are like £280 ish

 

Well as far as Im aware mine hasnt gone, Ive just rebuilt it after spinning a shell so thats def not MAF related, but Im worried it could go in the future with no warning !! It seems to be the timebomb waiting to happen from the way people talk about it !

Is it really that bad ? what can be done to keep an eye on it ?

 

The only real way to get the nagging feeling out of your head is to run MAFless, and you'd need an ECU which doesn't require the MAF sensor to measure the air density to achieve this. The cheapest way in would be getting the Simtek ECU (has lots of other handy features too). I believe the ECU works out the measured air from the MAP sensor instead.

I know it's an expensive way around not 'worrying' about potential MAF failure, but you've just had your bottom end rebuilt, so could well be a worthwhile route to go down, for good peace of mind.