Cleaning the MAF Sensor Question

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T

troutbum19

10 Year 15 Year
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Sep 16, 2009
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Location
SF // CA
Alright I have searched this to the point that the google got mad at me. I have a 97 FZJ80 and want to clean MAF sensor in it due to some hard starting and just general maintenance. Now my Air flow meter looks like a torpedo and from what I have gathered the MAF sensor is in there? Is there a way to disassemble it to get the sensor out? or do I just spray some MAF cleaner down in there? Any help would be awesome.

A picture of the torpedo can be seen here
https://forum.ih8mud.com/merchandise-storefront/166370-landtank-performance-maf-housing-6.html
 
on the stock MAF you can clean them from the filter side of the sensor. On that side you will see a round opening with an "+" of plastic across it. Lokk down into that opening and you'll see the two wire sensors. I like to use CRC MAF cleaner and spray those two wires with it. On the sensors used in my housing I also sweep them lightly with an model car paint brush to help get the dirt off of them. Get a soft long bristled brush and be gentle.
 
I also use CRC MAF Sensor Cleaner, spray it in till I fill the funnel, slosh it around, and then slosh it out. I leave the sensor upside down while doing the rest of the oil change (I typically clean the sensor on oil changes) on a clean shop towel and allow it to dry and evaporate any remaining cleaner. I don't use any compressed air or anything mechanical although a super soft artist's brush is a good idea in the open wire designs; I wouldn't use an artists' in the stock MAF because yer basically likely to hit the wires and damage them due to the funnel's shape and size. For your first cleaning you might have to rinse and repeat with the cleaner to get the wires clean. Never use water or anything other than the cleaner on the wires. Hope that helps. :cheers:
 
landtank said:
No, completely different design.
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Ain't that the truth!
I just met troutbum last night by pure accident, he was responding to my CL add about my bike rack and we were both in lifted LandCruisers.
Our MAF's are totally different. He is missing things under his hood and i have no clue what they are, but it's extremely clean engine bay, quite literally the cleanest i may have ever seen on a 1FZE
 
Tapage said:
are a bad idea clean it mounted . ?
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I'd say so mostly just because it is so much easier to clean it unmounted and because you'll basically spray cleaner and all that dirt that dislodges into either the air filter (bad) or into the intake hose (bad). Taking it off is super simple and then you can really clean it. Hope that helps. :cheers:
 
turbocruiser said:
I'd say so mostly just because it is so much easier to clean it unmounted and because you'll basically spray cleaner and all that dirt that dislodges into either the air filter (bad) or into the intake hose (bad). Taking it off is super simple and then you can really clean it. Hope that helps. :cheers:
Click to expand...

copy that .. and thanks for the advice.
 
Special MAF Sensor for higher Altitudes?

Dear Mudders,

Although my LX is basically a daily driver, I do enjoy taking it out to the wilderness, which where I am at basically implies going up the mountains which are pretty high up there (3000m = 10,500ft and up). After about 3500m the rig starts dying and I have to switch to low range. I had originally thought that it was because of the diff ratio, but my mechanic told me that on carbureted FZJ80's there is no issue.

Now, my question is whethere there is a way to modify the exixting MAF sensor to adapt to higher altitudes or if there is a manufacturer that makes a special one for these conditions? I know high altitude is not very common but wante to ask just in case. Regards,
 
Cleaning the MAF wasn't something I thought of doing, and had never heard of MAF cleaner. Wandered into the local NAPA yesterday, and sure enough, there was CRC MAF cleaner. We're going to Walker Valley wheeling tomorrow, so today I removed the MAF and did the "fill the torpedo, swish it around" thing a couple of times. After I loaded up the 80 for tomorrow I installed it and went to fill up with gas. I was happily surprised, definatly noticed a difference !! Snappier, better acceleration ! Thanks, guys !!:clap:
 
Thanks for the info changing the oil tomorrow so I 'll add this to the list.
 
landtank said:
If your truck has a MAF sensor then it already adapts to altitude. It does so much better than a carburetor could ever do.
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Hi Landtank,

Apparently there are limits to this, as even with a freshly cleaned sensor it still struggles at 11,500 ft. I can only relate to my personal experience, not only living on a daliy basis at 9500ft but also having worked for the General Motors assembly plant in Quito, where several ISUZU and SUZUKI platform cars were / are assembled. Basically when a new model was to be introduced into the local market the japanese engineers would come to make a tour of the country in order to visit several geographical points in order to properly "set" the ECU parameters.

One of the points that was vsited was a mountain road pass which is at 4200 masl, which is over 13,800ft. According to them no conventional ECU made for normal markets is able to adequately adjust to such a great change in altitude unless is it purposely designed to do so. Ergo, ISUZU and SUZUKI platform cars assembled locally for use in the Ecuadorian and Colombian markets have a different ECU Part numbers than the rest of the world. This is a fact...

...Which makes me think that an LX450 / US Spec FZJ80 which was intended chiefly for soccer moms in the USA, where altitudes rarely reach this magnitude, are poorly suited to adjust to extreme altitudes, especially with AT.

I suspect that such is also the reason why as a result, the FJ/FZJ80's that were officially imported by Toyota Ecuador here were all carbureted manual transmission models, where in case of adjustment can be rejetted. I would suspect such would also be the case for countries in Asia such as Pakistan or India where it would also be common for a vehicle like this to be venturing to these altutudes. Just my 2 cents... Cheers,
 
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longuito said:
cars assembled locally for use in the Ecuadorian and Colombian markets have a different ECU Part numbers than the rest of the world. This is a fact...
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I know Venezuelan assembled 80 .. ( Autanas ) with manual tranny have no O2 sensors and therefore different ECU not sure is that's directly related with Hi altitude adjustments or if there is another ECU for SouthAmerica .. if so .. dod you have that part number ?
 
Hi Tapage, when I was referring to a different part number it was in regards to my days working for general motors, where the Isuzu and Suzuki engineers actually come to design a specific ECU / ECM for the Andean market. I don't know if such is the case with Toyota, but it would make sense that they did especially when they did assemble the 70's in both Colombia and Venezuela and the 80's in Venezuela only, but in both cases it was the same 1FZE engine. In any case I don't know the specific ECU part number for the Venezuelan or Colombian assembled versions but if anyone could chime in it would be great. The million dollar question is if only the ECU PN changes or if the MAF PN does too. Regards,
 
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Hello,

EFI engines with MAF sensors/ECUs and related stuff adapt well to altitude, much better than carbureted ones.

It appears your LX450 has an automatic transmission. A 1FZ-FE engine and an auto tranny is not the best combination for mountain passes. Keep in mind that although powerful, the engine is moving a rather heavy vehicle; on the other hand, a little driver's intervention is required when going uphill with an auto.

My advise: easy on the gas pedal, check the user's manual for steep hills proper gear shift. At around 80 km/h (50 mi/h) you are still going pretty fast uphill.





Juan
 
JuanJ said:
Hello,

EFI engines with MAF sensors/ECUs and related stuff adapt well to altitude, much better than carbureted ones.

It appears your LX450 has an automatic transmission. A 1FZ-FE engine and an auto tranny is not the best combination for mountain passes. Keep in mind that although powerful, the engine is moving a rather heavy vehicle; on the other hand, a little driver's intervention is required when going uphill with an auto.

My advise: easy on the gas pedal, check the user's manual for steep hills proper gear shift. At around 80 km/h (50 mi/h) you are still going pretty fast uphill.

Juan
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Hola Juan,

Thanks for the comments. In what part of the world are you?

You are right about heavy rig+auto tranny+high altitude (and dont forget high diff ratio) are a TERRIBLE combo. That is exactly why whe I am on the dirt roads above 3200m = 10,600ft and for some reason I have to come to a dead stop, the car will practically NOT MOVE unless it's in low range. :bang: With the lower gearing it runs fine, and actually I have to put it on 2nd start in order for it to be so jerky. as you can see, I'm not talking about highways, where it behaves OK because of momentum, it happens when I have to start from stop on a hill, and that is a problem even at 2900m = 9,600ft (the altutude of my city

It seems the only feasible atlernative is to fit 4.88 ring an pinions in the front and back to compensate for this. Now, if only it didn't cost a fortune to get those heavy buggers here!

Cheers,
 
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