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We Have A Red Explorer Down!

Four0Sport

Jack from JackOffRoad
Joined
August 26, 2004
Messages
3,026
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113
City, State
West Virginia
Year, Model & Trim Level
1993 2dr
had a day off.. decided to do some things to the 93

- recharged K&N
- degreased valve covers/side of heads
- oil change
- plugs (actually the plugs were 2 days ago)
- cleaned MAF (2 days ago)

rinsed off the degreaser (alt. coil pack, and power dist. box were covered), let it run at idle for 15 mins, shut the vehicle off. changed the oil, let it idle again for 15 mins, shut the vehicle off. get in it to run into town and bout a mile from my house i noticed a miss when im not accelerating. engine shuts off at 2 stop lights. i get what i need in town and take the quickest way home, the interstate. vehicle shifts HARD, misses when not accelerating, CEL comes on, goes out, comes back on later, goes back out.

i immediately came inside and made a jumper wire to read the KOEO quick codes and come up with 111 (system pass) 111 (system pass) 157 (MAF sensor below voltage) 158 (MAF sensor above voltage). a bad maf explains the hard shifting and the miss so i grabbed my maf cleaner, sprayed it down, put everything back together, pulled the negative terminal. i did notice a couple dark spots on the MAF wires, filter oil? not sure.

start the truck, noticeable rough idle, no CEL. slowly accelerate, smooth-ER idle, no CEL. tap the pedal a couple times quickly, CEL comes on. same codes.

Ive been driving my 93 back and forth to work bc my cam sensor/synchro in my 97 is getting replaced on wednesday and now im SOL. Ive never had problems degreasing engines before. could it be as simple as a bad MAF?

Thanks for all the help in the past, hopefully i can get this figured out relatively quick.
 



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MAF problems right after a K&N recharge point to too much filter oil. That would be my guess.

http://www.knfilters.com
17. How much oil should I use to re-oil my filter after it is cleaned?

The best way to ensure proper oiling is to use our squeeze bottle recharger kit (Part No. 99-5050). With a squeeze bottle, you simply run a bead along the top of each pleat on both sides of the filter. If using an aerosol recharger kit (Part No. 99-5000), make one light pass over the entire filter area front and back. The oil will then be evenly absorbed throughout the rest of the cotton medium over the next several minutes. We recommend you let your filter set for 1 hour to let any excess oil run off the filter.

If you want exact oiling requirements, enter the part number in the “Search by Part” box on our Application Search Page and the factory oil amount will be shown.
 






yeah i was thinking the same thing, but the recharge was done with the plugs a couple days prior to todays events. it is possible that oil built up on the MAF or that i got the MAF wet while rinsing degreaser off. i am going to do a quick search to see if a 5.0 MAF will work on my 4.0 OHV and see if that clears up the problem. its just a PITA when small things pile up on me.
 






Yup, I know the feeling- many fouled MAF's from K&N's for me. I quit buying them already- more trouble than they're worth, IMHO

Let me know what part number is on your MAF. I may have one in the garage I could unload for an OHV. Mine has a slightly different connector and I can't use it.
 






Are you sure you didn't get any igniton/electrical components wet when you degreased?
 






most all ignition and/or electrical components were covered in plastic and whe majority of the motor was not sprayed. i mainly just cleaned the sides of the heads, the inner fenders, and the radiator shroud. i brought the maf inside and looked at it closely under a light. there are spots of build up on both of the hot wires, im guessing filter oil or possibly water got in between the the sensor and the housing as there was some corrosion. the air box is dry, coil pack is dry, didnt feel any water in the middle of the plenum.

im hoping that with the combination of 2 maf codes and gunk on the maf wires themselves that this is my only problem. local salvage yard wants $30 for a used MAF, new one is around $80 for me at work. im gonna try to 'borrow' someones maf in the next couple days to see if that is indeed the problem. any other ideas? im all ears.
 






just walked back out with my manually cleaned MAF. yeah i know its bad but there was gunk all over the hot wires. undid the negative terminal, bolted down the maf, plugged it in, connected the negative, started the truck, still a rough idle and then the CEL comes on.

grab my jumper wire, now i pull codes 114 (air charge temperature higher/lower than expected), 116 (engine coolant temperature higher/lower than expected), and 157 again (MAF below minimum voltage).

does this still point to a fried MAF? even after removing funk from the wires i noticed under a light that there are brownish marks (burn marks?) agaisnt the center portion of the wires. im hoping its only a fried MAF, im gonna be really bummed if i have to put a bunch of money into it by taking it to someone.
 






walked back outside, unhooked the maf and started the vehicle. same noticeable rough idle. plugged the maf back in.. idle smoothed out after a few moments, let vehicle run for about 20 mins. drove around my neighborhood, everything was fine, no CEL, no rough idle.

went out towards the interstate, thought id make pass at high speeds to make sure there is no top end miss. b4 getting on the interstate i noticed the vehicle hesitated briefly, insterstate run went fine, geting off the exit ramp at the stop sign i noticed another hesitation. CEL came one. came home, read codes, 157 MAF below voltage. Im pretty convinced i have a bad MAF. will get another one in next couple days and update. im gonna go take my K&N out now. funny, ive never had this problem with an oiled filter b4. maybe it was the combination of the filter oil and water on the maf from degreasing the engine.
 






finally made it to the salvage yard to get a used MAF, paid $30 for maf, housing, and a foot of harness with a warranty, not too bad. vehicle is back to running normal. now that i have 2 maf housings, is there any benefit to removing the screen on the maf, i know that on GMs this is done alot and helps increase hp by a fraction, but wondering if this has any benefit with the ford style maf sensor. to mee it seems the screen is beyond the point of the hot wires and only acts as a trap b4 shooting up the intake tube. just some thoughts.
 






I think it would be fine to remove, not sure it restricts that much airflow though.....
 






Leave the screen in. It helps straighten the air before it gets to the MAF. If you induce turbulence around the MAF it can cause a/f problems.
 






But then he can just throw in a tornado and double his HP!
 






But then he can just throw in a tornado and double his HP!

Yeah..and 2 tornado's will quadruple it.:p:

This particular issue has come up with the Mach's on a regular basis. Many who have gone to the K&N intake (which uses the stock MAF and housing) have had all sorts of stalling issues. The K&N setup requires the removal of the screen. I originally had that setup on my car, and it would just up and stall occasionally at stoplights. Putting the screen back in fixed the issue. Over on the Mach boards it's been beaten to death multiple times and the consensus was leave the screen in.
 






98 Cobra here with the screen removed. Never had any stalling issues.
You need to reset the ECU and let the car learn the new readings.
I suppose Mach's may have some strange issue, but I never heard of that before, and I also have the 4V 4.6, granted they are a little different.
 






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