A once happy customer
I have been hesitant to post this for a couple of weeks and I am still worried that I will get flamed for my post based on what I have seen so far.
So with that said let me state this. Any attempt to Negate my findings by jumping my credibility due to this post will be ignored. Any serious discussions I will take on since that is what this is for.
Background. I waited for a good period of time before obtaining the MAF sensor since I usually like to ensure that most people posting find good results for their application. I call it smart buying.
Note: Prior to the install I upgraded my exhaust to a 2.5 inch exhaust and had the catalytic converters replaced. After all I had approx. 180k on the truck. Seemed right since I was upgrading the exhaust due to numerous leaks and bashes on rocks.
Going forward to the early summer for us (later June timeframe?) I placed the order and received the MAF for my LC and installed it.
At first everything was perfect. Idle did seem to smooth out and performance was on par with what others said from their seat of the pants tests. I kept it on and ran it with no "known" issues. Perfect in my world.
Going forward two weeks, I reached out to cruiserdan for the 3.0 Fan Blade plus a new fan clutch and 10k CST for the upgrade there since I am supercharged wondering if that would help my cooling issues. I also went ahead and ordered new O2 sensors but set those aside. I was running hot enough now (July 2nd) that my AC kept shutting off. To my surprise that didn't help as much as I was hoping and went off to Mountain states toyota about two weeks after that to have the Thermostat replaced, radiator flushed, water pump checked out et al. to see if I could resolve my issues. Nothing. I replaced my O2 sensors and nothing. I started talking with known "smart people", Ben at Slee, Cruiserdan, Romer et al., not to call them out but to state I was getting frustrated and was getting ready to order the aux JDM fan to see what else could be done.
On my way to Moab in August with my buddy I encountered some heavy traffic coming up the first stretch of I70 going West and had to go from about 70mph to stop. Immediately my truck started to go to the red zone. I pulled off into the median, turned the heater on full blast and shut the AC off. Temps went down and I decided it wasn't worth the risk to continue that evening (Friday). On the way back to town my buddy asked me what the "hell" did you change to this truck to get it to behave this way. I explained all I did and he was simply smart enough to state, what does that MAF do? I explained in laments terms what I learned on the Web and he said, lets take it off and see what happens. We went back to my house and removed the offending bits and placed in the Stock MAF and reset everything. Well "guess what" I never had the cooling issues again. I would say I was relieved and took my trip to Moab and tryed numerous times to replicate the issues and the AC never shut off and the truck ran as it always did. So that was my "seat" of the pants findings.
Until now.
When I bought the new LC from Paul in California - dream truck 40th locked et al. I needed to put my current not new to me LC up for sale since I had a new one now. (now at 203k) In any case let me get to the skinny here. It took me about 2 mnths after buying my 40th to get my 6inch lift, shocks, panhards, and finally my nice navigation / sat radio, and Supercharger off blah blah blah. Cold winter and lots of weekends to get it done.
Now come March I posted my vehicle for sale and it sold quickly and the new owner was satified with all compression tests (forgot to mention that about about 170k I replaced the headgasket by Robbie). I decided that since I took the supercharger off and everything else was up to snuff that I would place the Landtank MAF back in so that the new owner would have the new toys and bits. Well when he took it to get it to pass emissions it failed with very high CO2 levels. We did some more cleaning and changed the oil et al., and still no pass.
Well I talked to my buddy from earlier and he was like what changed. LT MAF? only change. My buddy races his old muscle cars at bandimere raceway and has a bunch of knowledge to how cars work esp. to fuel trim et al on older cars. He also just happened to have a Gas, Exhaust analyzer you place into the exhaust and then you can drive the vehicle around and monitor what is going on to the exhaust. This is how he changes his Carbs so he can run efficiently or lean as needed for racing.
So on to the exhaust analyzer:
We (new owner and myself w/ help from my buddy) performed numerous test and got very consistent data points on both the LT MAF and the factory MAF on the same vehicle (resetting each time). All tests were performed at idle and speeds between 10mph and 60mph.
Results:
- Disclaimer: This analyzer doesn't have numbers that reflect the exact Fuel trim but an average Fuel trim.
With the LT MAF we saw a consistent lean condition under idle - lean, under throttle - less lean, and during coast - very lean.
With the factory MAF we saw a more linear change to the conditions. Under throttle we saw it go to a more rich condition, under idle we saw the idle to sit in the "green zone" (optimal condition), and under coast we saw it go back to the optimal condition to just slightly lean.
Based on this practice I decided it was best to recoup my LT MAF and leave the factory MAF in esp. based that this looked very much in line with some of the concerns posted in this forum on this modification.
Going forward and done:
Went back to the emissions center and still failed but slightly. We decided that "I" replace the O2 sensors
again (just replaced them less than a year ago) and the truck passed with flying colors
.
All said and done I am displeased with this mod and it is what it is but if I have been running lean that explains my O2 sensors going bunk in such a short time, my vehicle running hot enough to shut the AC off, and causing emissions to fail. I went a good while with the MAF and was happy but it is obvious to me that you can run it for a while but the very least you will loose your O2 sensors and fail emissions. My check engine light did not come on for the O2 sensors et al., so it is a fact your O2 sensors can be bad enough to fail emissions but not turn the CEL on. By the way I passed the drive by emissions here in Colorado in August with no problems but it is obvious the drive by's aren't as effective as the actual roller tests.
By the way I wasn't done yet. Since the new owner needed to pass emissions on his vehicle so I had to take the factory MAF off of my new 40th to place into his. I then placed the LT MAF on mine knowing I would quickly remove it but I needed to get home so it is what it is. On my drive home and every time I would shut the truck off and start a new drive. My CEL would come on with a PO171 - Lean mixture Bank 1. I have the LT MAF off now and no CEL to date.
Thank you for listening to my rant but I figured a non-vendor needed to place this out there. All I say is run what you want and enjoy what LT has to offer. He is brilliant but I question this MOD.
on the skinny pedal since the install. Time will tell but as of now a big thumbs up Landtank keep the innovations coming.
This weekend I went on a little road trip to see a good buddy's first Grandchild (I"m starting to feel old) None the less, I drove from Glendale, CA (about 20 miles north of Los Angeles) to San Diego. Then to the desert so round trip, a lot in the rain and on the Hwy at 70MPH+ I drove a total of 367.4 Miles. I used 20.8 gallons of fuel. 367.4/20.8 = 17.6 MPG. Not Bad! 
