Help! installed intake and WHAM BAM CEL codes for DAYS! | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

  • Register Today It's free!

Help! installed intake and WHAM BAM CEL codes for DAYS!

SunSearching

Active Member
Joined
May 3, 2006
Messages
81
Reaction score
0
City, State
Athens, GA
Year, Model & Trim Level
2000 4x4, 96 BMW 328is
Ok here's the skinny... no use wasting time with a long story...

97 XLT
4.0 v6

Installed an intake with a MAF adaptor. Carefully removed my MAF sensor, making sure not to break small wires. Carefully transferred MAF sensor to new intake. Continued with install of intake. (Used OEM piping from throttle body to the metal tube that the MAF sits in from the factory.. didn't want to deal with all that wiring. So basically all I really *replaced* was the paper filter and the MAF tube with aftermarket. When I started the truck back up after this, it ran like CRAP... sputtering, popping... I let it run for a while and it seems to even itself out. So I move it up from my garage to the driveway, turn it off. Turn it back on, same story. That was yesterday. Today I had to drive 4 hours home in the truck, and the Check Engine light has been on consistently. At the beginning of the trip, the light would actually FLASH, and I would lose a LOT of power.. like.. barely moving forward. So I stopped by an AutoZone to get the code(s) pulled, and here's what he came up with

o2 sensor failure Bank 1/2
Misfire 3,4,5,6
MAF failure

So I'm going WTF. I was super careful with the MAF, made sure everything was reinstalled EXACTLY like it was from the factory (save for the aftermarket intake, of course).

Any ideas on what I broke? My fuel efficiency doesn't seem to be down any (I was averaging 23mpg on the highway), which is what I've always been taught to look for with failing o2 sensors...

The misfire I think is caused by a bad ground wire off my battery, which will be repaired asap... am I barking up the right tree with this?

Just wondering if anyone else has had problems like this with air intake installs.
 



Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year.
Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,.
Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!
.





So you just changed the filter and the tubing? Did you seal it up correctly? Use all the gaskets your suppose to around the MAF? If you are letting a lot of unmetered air in - I can see why it'll run bad and give you those codes! Give us the exactly code numbers P0what!?

-Drew
 






I'll get the numbers at some point today... I'm gonna see about getting the ecu reset to see if that helps at all. All seals are tight and correct.. the intake came with a small rubber gasket that goes around the MAF, and the gaskets are all tight. I even put a small amount of silicone grease on each coupling, just to make SURE they were tight. :(
 






I would try re-installing the stock stuff-( yeah I know it isn't what you want to hear) ,reset the PCM, then check the driveability issues.
I know the sampling tube on mafs is critical.

You did say you installed the maf sensor itself into another maf tube--if I am understanding correctly....
 






Maybe you got some oil from the filter on the MAF?

-Rich
 






the MAF itself was transferred to another tube.. I'll take some pics in a bit
 






sometimes if the filter is over oiled when you start the car and it sucks air in it will get oil on the MAF, causing a CEL and symptoms like you have described.

-Rich
 






I'm pretty sure it's not overoiled, but at this point anything's possible... is there a way to clean the MAF? I might have touched the wires with dirty hands, too.. it was late at night...
 






its very hard to touch the wires of the MAF unless you mean to touch them. Try cleaning it with electrical cleaner and see if anything changes

-Drew
 






Yes, you can clean it with electric parts cleaner, spray it right on the elements.

Is there a chance the maf sensor is installed backwards???
 






^^It's definitely not backwards.. I double and triple checked that. I'll get some electrical cleaner tonight and give it a spray and see if that helps. :)
 






This is a stupid question, and I'm not sure it will cause those symptoms, but did you disconnect your battery while installing? The computer is supposed to relearn the air/fuel ratios and all that good stuff.
 






This is a stupid question, and I'm not sure it will cause those symptoms, but did you disconnect your battery while installing? The computer is supposed to relearn the air/fuel ratios and all that good stuff.

No, I didn't, and I thought about that... I know on my honda, whenever I do any motor/electrical modification, I reset the ecu... on the honda it's just a matter of pulling the ecu fuse out, counting to 60, and plugging it back in... a friend told me that if I disconnect both terminals of the battery for about 15 mins it will reset the ecu on my truck... is that accurate? Tomorrow I'm gonna fix the bad ground wire/neg battery terminal, and hopefully the misfire will go away.. it's getting pretty bad. I'm also gonna clean those wires and just double check that it is, in fact, an airtight seal. :confused: Stupid truck... can't WAIT for my swap.
 






if its one of the 15.99 maf housings from autozone/pepboys I have one as well and it through similiar codes for me bank 1 and 2 lean as well as a misfire.

I took it off.
 






what do you mean? It's a PowerAdder MAF converter, which is sold in pep boys... I'm sponsored by them... hmm... maybe I should make some calls....
 






... I even put a small amount of silicone grease on each coupling, just to make SURE they were tight. :(

You may have killed your O2 sensor with the silicone grease. You are NEVER supposed to get silicone near the intake system, it will kill O2 sensors in a heartbeat.
 






A lot of the Permatex silicone products claim to be safe to O2 sensors??
 












A lot of the Permatex silicone products claim to be safe to O2 sensors??

As long as the product specifically says it is O2 sensor safe, it should be no problem. Silicone will coat the ceramic in an O2 sensor and keep the exhaust gases from permeating it, thus killing the output of the sensor. Silicone is death to O2 sensors.
 



Join the Elite Explorers for $20 each year.
Elite Explorer members see no advertisements, no banner ads, no double underlined links,.
Add an avatar, upload photo attachments, and more!
.





I hope when he said "coupling" he was refering to the electrical connectors.
 






Back
Top