1998 Chevy Lumina Mass Airflow Sensor I think

MARKJR1977

MEMBER
1998 CHEVROLET LUMINA
6 CYL
FWD
AUTOMATIC
163,000 MILES

I just bought the car a couple of weeks ago. This week, I was driving and after a while, I noticed a surging(it feels like the engine is cutting in and out when I give it gas.) And then shortly after that, it stalled. Then I turned it off, and started it again and it went fine. But the surging returns after a while. I have a friend who is a mechanic and he said it was a mass airflow sensor. I'm not sure. What kind of difficulty is there involved with either cleaning it or replacing it? Or if you have any other advice, I would appreciate it.

2 Replies

DOCFIXIT

MECHANIC
18,828 POSTS

Check engine light on? Cleaning is easy get a can of MAF spray cleaner and spray MAF.
If light have codes read then post.

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Thursday, April 23rd, 2009 AT 4:29 PM

RENAUDTN

MECHANIC
636 POSTS

Cleaning or replacing a MAF is no problem. If you want to clean it, buy a can of MAF cleaner, and spray some directly on the sensor. It's located inside your aid duct (between your air filter box and your throttle body. Disconnect the connector at the sensor, remove the duct, and you'll be able to see the sensor. Replacing it is no big job either. Just disconnect the harness, unscrew the MAF from the air duct and put a new one in there. Make sure you get a good OEM replacement part.
You may also want to check your TPS sensor (Throttle position sensor). With key on engine off, back probe the sensor (3 wires) and check for voltage at the hot wire (around 5V), and <0.1v at the ground wire. The other wire is your signal wire and should increase smoothly almost all the way to 5V when you open the throttle; if it doesn't increase smoothly and you get " �bumpy' readings, or nothing at all, replace this sensor.
It could be a lot of other things as well (EGR, CPS sensor, MAP sensor...). If you're determine to fix it yourself, I suggest you buy a manual (Chilton/Haynes) and go from there. It'll have troubleshooting procedures for all those sensors/systems.