Wanted to let everyone know that I cleaned my MAF this morning and all I can say is WOW! What a difference!!!!! I’ve only own the car for a few weeks now and my first impression was ‘’this is a good replacement over the S500” but after cleaning the MAF the true Beast is out of the Cage. I opted to clean the MAF myself rather than waiting for a new one plus buying a new one if not necessary. For those who would like to do the same just follow the easy instructions. Took me about 45 min.. the longest part was waiting for it to dry.

Oh and since I haven’t received my OBDII I used the old , unplug the batt. For 20min to erase the codes. Once everything is connected and when you fire her up for the first time you will receive ESP and BAS turn wheel left , Right (all the way) and resets automatically while car is running… Last step is the windows , have all the windows up. One by One press up for 3 sec. and they will reprogram. Sunroof open and then hold for 3 Sec.(worked on my S-Class and E-Class)

Labor – 45 min
Costs - $16.98



P.S
My K&N filters were a bit dirty, now I can see why so many are against them. They can really mess with your MAF if you don’t keep up with the maintenance. I am planning on cleaning mine this weekend. For those who are rocking K&N….. Take a looksi



Credit to :TJC:
Re: P0170 / P0173 codes. I just solved the problem a few weeks ago on my ’01 E320 – the control systems are similar enough that it should apply to your situation. The dealer misdiagnosed the cause as a failure of the two rear O2 sensors. Both failing at the same time seemed unlikely and I bought a cheap Actron code reader (#CP9175, ~$120 on Amazon.com). When I looked at the freeze data, some of the fuel trim (long and short) numbers were out of range. The trouble events were at idle. As there were results in the fuel range registers, I assumed there was some data from the O2 sensor. A little reading on the net confirmed my gut reaction: there are specific codes for O2 failures and I did not have those. Fuel trim results are ratios, and rather than suspecting both devices on one side of the fractions, I looked at the common device on the other – the MAF. I also suspected a possible vacuum leak as the events were at idle, but the test for that was negative. My problem was a dirty MAF.

To clean it correctly requires a torx anti tamper driver (I think it is #20, but might be #25). There is a little button in the middle of the “star” that makes a standard torx driver useless. I bought a set of hex drive torx bits at Kragen for about $11.00. Remove the MAF tube housing from the intake, remove the MAF sensor from the tube housing with the torx driver. There are two measuring points in the MAF that need cleaning: a plate inside a venturi, and two wires in an enclosure at the bottom of the sensor. The plate is some non-corroding metal and measures air density by the cooling effect of the air flowing through the venturi across the plate. That plate will eventually get dirty and must be cleaned (my car had about 65,000 miles when the CEL came on). I cleaned the plate with CRC MAF cleaner and a q-tip and sprayed the lower enclosure with the wires too. Don’t touch the wires, as the unit will be ruined if they are damaged. Only use MAF cleaner or electrical tuner/contact cleaner like the stuff from Radio Shack. Carb/choke and brake cleaners will leave a residue that will make the problem continue. Let the sensor dry, and reassemble.

The whole operation took less than an hour. I erased the codes and the CEL went out. I have not had any problems since – 16 engine warm up cycles. I tried to figure out what the cause of the problem was, as the sensor seems to be OK now, and had functioned fine for over six years. My only guess is I put a K & N filter in about 18 months ago. It might be the oil from that filter building up on the sensor plate and fouling it.

Try this before you waste money on the new parts. The dealer wanted to put in two O2 sensors at about $600. They would have hit me for another $500 for the MAF when that attempted fix failed. My code reader has already paid for itself many times over. It will get more work in the future as I have lost faith in the dealer’s ability to accurately diagnose problems. If the orange light of irritation comes on again, I will no longer be at their mercy.

 

Congratulations for now. But, ...

I see a CEL in the very near future. If you buy one (MAF), it won't come..

 

K&N are for Kids & Newbies

 

ruBENZ - good stuff

Actually if you google MAF tons of topics. Quit a few topics discussing that if the CEL stays on than your MAF is completely shot but if your CEL comes and goes than you have a dirty MAF. Properly cleaning your MAF is the best way to go that is if you don't mind spending $600 at the stealership. Also a few MB owners stated that if you are rocking K&N to clean them every 10k miles as well as your MAF. This will help keeping a Healthy MAF

Yacht Master - No comment actually K&N is obviously owners preference for you to make a comment that K&N are for Kids & Newbies is out of context. Not everyone is a gear head or looking for the next best super charger. I can't comment on the difference in acceleration since I bought the car from Jimmydagreek with the K&N already in place. I guess your calling him a Newbie as well and I'm pretty positive that he's not or far from it. (sorry Jimmy just stating the facts) but what I can state is that when I replaced my OEM filters to K&N on my S500 I noticed right away the difference in acceleration. Again this is all personal preference. My 2 cents

 

armaniE55, I honesty hope your freshly cleaned MAF will extend the life of your MAF sensor. Cleaned or not, the dang things have a shorter than average life span. Thank you Bosch. FYI, these days, you can find a new MAF sensor on the Internet(i.e. Ebay) for $200. or less, or $200 or more at reputable Internet auto parts shops (i.e. Germanimportedparts.com); your preference. The latter being a more reliable source. And, a fairly simple DYI at that...~1 hr. As I stated in an earlier post, there is nothing like a brand new MAF sensor under your hood. I plan to replace my current (or second) MAF after 50K of service; kaput or not

For the record, having previously applying K&N filters in my former vehicles, I have concluded that the oil residue issue is most prevalent when one cleans and reapplies the oil, not at the initial application. K&N suggests one cleans/reapplies at 50K; I like the 10K approach. Nonetheless, I prefer the OEM approach.

BTW, if your MAF sensor goes out in the predicted very near future, you owe me lunch.

 

Ok your on !!!!

 

I just bought a new MAF from autohausaz.com for $168 ! No shipping charges, no tax! It will take less than 20 minutes to install. $580 quote from the stealer? I don't think so!

I also just bought a new OBDII that should arive in the next couple of days. Is there any helpfull hints as to what I can I accomlpish with it beyond clearing the CEL and verifying that the MAF is now good? Is there a sequence or process I should follow to reset car system to optimize new MAF so that I don't need to disconnect battery or anything? I read in someone's prior thread something about needing to do the battery thing to get the new MAF to work correctly.

Thanks

 

The problem with MAF's going bad is not due to the filters, any filters, but it's with the oil that lubes them after cleaning. Any filter that is "cleanable" and needs to be oiled could cause a MAF problem. The trick is, remove as much of the oil as possible before reinstalling the newly oiled filters. I let them sit as long as 48 hours on newpaper and replace the paper periodically until there is no oil left.

I ran K&N's in my M3 and W210's for ever and I never had any problems. Call it luck if you will from what I read but NO PROBLEMS. OEM filters are your safest bet no doubt about it but everyone has their own pref. Know what I mean!

 

Yasou ! Jimmy I called you on my lunch break. I'll try again tomorrow... by the way I have to admit..... she's quick off the line!!!!! I wish I could have drove her prior to her mods.... I am really tempted to hit MB this weekend and drive a stock one just to compare

Vrodman - I am also waiting for my OBDII to arrive I wish I could help you but I am a Newbie in that dept! as you can see in the forum I did the old batt. trick also from other Forums that I read it stated that the ECU will adapt to your style of driving.... On my way home today I could REALLY FEEL the power getting on he highway with a "clean maf" definitely put a smile on my face !

I have a bet going with Rubenz for lunch that My MAF won't choke up! Rubenz what's the bet 2 -4 months ????? I'll give you the name of the restaurant now so that you can call in my order !!!!

 

Armani, I just got my OBDII yesterday and hooked it up last night. It's pretty sweet! Fairly "no-brainer". Just plug it in under the dash roughly where your left knee would be and follow instructions on the units display. It gives you all trouble codes and allows you to clear them and clear CEL. It also lets you look at live data such as coolant temp, RPM, and lbs/min air through MAF among others.

Tonight I will be replacing MAF and then hopefully see the MAF trouble code gone. Interesting thing on that MAF is that after the CEL being on solid for the last week and a half, it suddenly went off this morning and the engine seemed to be performing much better . It had gotten pretty bad by yesterday to where it was having trouble getting off the line at all. Coincidence that I hooked up that OBDII last night??? Strange. I'll be replacing the MAF anyway though. Maybe there was a piece of debris in the MAF that broke loose? I don't know. But I already have the new MAF, so I'm hoping when I throw that baby in, I'll notice a substantial return in performance!

 

Update: CEL back by lunch time! Car stuttering along with it. If your theory that an intermittent CEL suggest possibly that the MAF is salvageable, I guess I'll hang on to the old one after I take it out tonight, clean it, and keep it as a backup. Keep us posted as to how long your cleaned one holds up.

 

Vrodman - Nice ! I haven't had a chance to play w/my OBDII but from reading your other post seems like a Must Have

 

almost 3k mi still going strong no CEL light wow it's soooo powerful with a clean MAF

It' s almost just plain wrong to have all this power

 

Yeah, it's not like the mods help at all, lol...

 

dunno know what your talking about...

By they way I got pulled over yesterday... Nope, not for speeding for the Tints ! ya can you believe it. I was like officer...."I don't know what to tell you but the car just passed inspection" I knew they were dark even the guy who did the inspection said they were a little on the dark side. The State Trooper was cool tho he said to just get the two front windows changed bring receipt to the hearing and he will "Squash" the ticket ($250.00)... than he said have fun at Steve's it's a lounge here in N.H

Good times

 

Do you know any cops??? Just get one of them to sign it off and you're done! Too bad you don't live in Cali, lol...

 

So Armani, A good friend of mine is from Manchester, N.H. and claims it is the mullet capitol of the world! You know business in front, party in back!! Is this true? You're not sporting a mullet are you?

 

otherwise known as a 'shlong'...

To the K&N crew...the +4 hp it gives you is from the free flow...more than compensated by getting much more dirt in your engine...why not just take the filter out, get +8 hp and let all dirt enter at will...lol...

 

Vrodman – I Love the Mullet ! haha I don’t even live anywhere near N.H let alone Manchester. Probably a good reason why I did get pulled over , not every day you see a SHINY silver benz rolling on Rt 495. I live 15 min. from Boston (city boy at heart) It was a nice day out so we decided to drive there and by the way it was very disappointing we stayed for about 1 beer. // Check Please //

abenner5 – Um how about noooo

 

if youre having trouble watch my video on how to do this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cwa8...ature=youtu.be