A long time ago, back in Utah, I had some car trouble. I had to keep my foot on the gas at all times or the engine RPMs would flatline and the car would stall. This made for some interesting stops as I double-footed the gas and brake. I’m not good at hitting the brake with my left foot. I use that foot for the clutch. You don’t ease the clutch pedal down, you hit it, and then gently release.
Picture me jamming my foot down on the brake like I’m trying to stop the car with my feet. Heck, just imagine Fred with a red beard and no hair and you pretty much have it.
The cause turned out to be the Mass Airflow (MAF) sensor. It sits on the air intake vent just behind the air filter. All it consists of is a couple of tiny pieces of metal that test the air as it passes through. It helps the computer decide how to mix the air and fuel, though. A problem with the MAF means your engine doesn’t get the right mixture.
The first time I removed it and cleaned it out with the assistance of my father-in-law. Very easy and very cheap fix. In case you can’t figure out where I’m going with this, it happened again.
My experience was a little different this time, so I didn’t assume it was the sensor right away. I took the car in to my mechanic to have him read the error codes. Apparently, they don’t know how to read them since the 95 Probe shares so many characteristics with the Mazda MX6. They didn’t charge me for the code reading and sent me to a Ford dealer.
Any guess at Ford’s answer? Only a $1500 dollar quote to replace the MAF sensor AND the distributor. Thanks, but no thanks. I think that is about the car’s net worth now. I paid them the $90 for the code reading and took my busted ride home. I tried to get the MAF off to clean it. I had forgotten that Ford is run by a bunch of proprietary jerkholes. The two tiny bolts holding it down were star bolts with a peg in the middle. That meant that my star bit would not fit since it didn’t have a depression in the tip. Naturally, no local hardware or auto shop carried the bit. So I said, “scroot,” and drilled out the bolts. Replacement hex bolts from Home Depot cost me $0.20.
The MAF was pretty dirty, so I polished it off and put it back in. Excited to test my fix, I hopped behind the steering wheel. I didn’t even get out of my parking spot.
Dammit.
I drove my wounded bird to the mechanic and gave them Ford’s prognosis. Stacy picked up a cheap MAF from a local auto shop and dropped it off for them to try first. Distributors cost a lot more than MAF sensors and are a lot harder to replace. They popped in the new one while I was at work and the engine purred like a kitten. The final price from them was $80, but it included the charge for installation and additional testing on the distributor and system.
All told the entire situation cost us $300. That’s just a little bit less than Ford’s quote. Only one frickin’ fifth of their quote! How do these people sleep at night? I kicked myself a little for not just replacing the MAF sensor myself in the first place, which would have saved about $180, but what’s a little extra to be sure it’s all working?
Until next time you break my car, Murphy.
Picture me jamming my foot down on the brake like I’m trying to stop the car with my feet. Heck, just imagine Fred with a red beard and no hair and you pretty much have it.
The cause turned out to be the Mass Airflow (MAF) sensor. It sits on the air intake vent just behind the air filter. All it consists of is a couple of tiny pieces of metal that test the air as it passes through. It helps the computer decide how to mix the air and fuel, though. A problem with the MAF means your engine doesn’t get the right mixture.
The first time I removed it and cleaned it out with the assistance of my father-in-law. Very easy and very cheap fix. In case you can’t figure out where I’m going with this, it happened again.
My experience was a little different this time, so I didn’t assume it was the sensor right away. I took the car in to my mechanic to have him read the error codes. Apparently, they don’t know how to read them since the 95 Probe shares so many characteristics with the Mazda MX6. They didn’t charge me for the code reading and sent me to a Ford dealer.
Any guess at Ford’s answer? Only a $1500 dollar quote to replace the MAF sensor AND the distributor. Thanks, but no thanks. I think that is about the car’s net worth now. I paid them the $90 for the code reading and took my busted ride home. I tried to get the MAF off to clean it. I had forgotten that Ford is run by a bunch of proprietary jerkholes. The two tiny bolts holding it down were star bolts with a peg in the middle. That meant that my star bit would not fit since it didn’t have a depression in the tip. Naturally, no local hardware or auto shop carried the bit. So I said, “scroot,” and drilled out the bolts. Replacement hex bolts from Home Depot cost me $0.20.
The MAF was pretty dirty, so I polished it off and put it back in. Excited to test my fix, I hopped behind the steering wheel. I didn’t even get out of my parking spot.
Dammit.
I drove my wounded bird to the mechanic and gave them Ford’s prognosis. Stacy picked up a cheap MAF from a local auto shop and dropped it off for them to try first. Distributors cost a lot more than MAF sensors and are a lot harder to replace. They popped in the new one while I was at work and the engine purred like a kitten. The final price from them was $80, but it included the charge for installation and additional testing on the distributor and system.
All told the entire situation cost us $300. That’s just a little bit less than Ford’s quote. Only one frickin’ fifth of their quote! How do these people sleep at night? I kicked myself a little for not just replacing the MAF sensor myself in the first place, which would have saved about $180, but what’s a little extra to be sure it’s all working?
Until next time you break my car, Murphy.
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