Cory74700 Posted January 13, 2013 Share Posted January 13, 2013 I need to remove and clean it but I have no idea where it is on an 88 pathfinder with the vg30i motor. Anyone ever had to do this before?? I have little to no experience with the tbi system and I've been looking like crazy for a post on the topic but got slim to no results, mass airflow sensor isn't even a word in my Chilton manual thanks in advance for any help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Precise1 Posted January 13, 2013 Share Posted January 13, 2013 I don't know that the TBI has a MAF? I don't own one, but I can't imagine where it would be. Inside the air cleaner intake? That doesn't make sense... B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cory74700 Posted January 13, 2013 Author Share Posted January 13, 2013 well i ran my ECU codes and threw a 12 which is [Air Flow Meter/Mass Air Flow Sensor]. I've heard there's a Mass Airflow Sensor built into the Throttle Body and is removed by one or two screws, but before I dive head first into it, I'd like to find out where to pull the screws from. It's to my understanding that the Mass Air Flow Sensor isn't like most, where the air is channeled through a tubular like thing, that it almost looks like an injector stuck in there sideways, but I do not know wether its on the left, right, front, or rear of the TBI... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORCGuide Posted January 13, 2013 Share Posted January 13, 2013 TBI definitely has a MAF. On my 88 at least. Pull the aircleaner off. I love how that's all it says in the manual. Remove the two wingnuts from the top of the air cleaner. Undo all six clips and remove the top. Pull the filter. Remove the 2 12mm bolts that secure the air cleaner to the drivers side valve cover. Remove the PCV hose from the aircleaner housing (drivers side). Remove the snorkel and Heat riser tube. Undo the clip on the AB valve hose. Remove the funky spacer from the top of the TB. Grab the front of the lower air cleaner housing and pull. Hard. Wiggle it a bit and swear at the nameless engineers in Japan that designed this setup. When you have the AB valve disconnected, reach under the lower air cleaner and disconnect the vacuum hose at 10 o'clock (heat riser, I think) and another at 1 o' clock (easier to pull the hose off of the intake manifold fitting). You should have the whole air cleaner off and the TB exposed. See the black thing on the right (drivers) side of the TB? With the funky connector secured with a wire clip? Held on by 3 screws. Defintely 3 screws. Use a dental pick and a hemostat to remove the clip. Don't lose it or destroy it. I'm not going outside to take pictures. Its almost dark and its -10C Have fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cory74700 Posted January 13, 2013 Author Share Posted January 13, 2013 So im not positive, but i think i may be a lucky one, my lower pan isnt held on by any bolts or anything, so i get the joy of not swearing at the japanese engineers. ive had the whole pan assembly off before and it was a breeze no pulling too hard or swearing at all. the swearing and yelling came when i had to figure out the hard way of changing my thermostat, that it is probably a million times easier if the intake manifold is off. needless to say, it worked, but thank you so much for this info. my next day off ill be sure to go and pickup some MAFS cleaner and come home and clean the hell out of that thing, i believe it may just be carbon on it though because of a huge backfire resulting in about a foot wide fireball shooting out of my intake last night then trying to smolder for a minute until i blew it out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORCGuide Posted January 13, 2013 Share Posted January 13, 2013 Forget MAF cleaner. . . use 99% isopropanol (isopropyl alcohol) and a couple of Q-tips. Be gentle, if you break the wires you'll be looking for a new MAF. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cory74700 Posted January 14, 2013 Author Share Posted January 14, 2013 (edited) so i went out there, took it all apart and snapped some photos, i used rubbing alcohol as you suggested but it really wasnt that dirty to begin with, then afterwards, i fired it up and got a lot of odd smelling smoke coming out of the tailpipe, that may just be my cat burnt up, im not sure but then my check engine light started flashing the 1,2,3,4,5 thing that the cpu does... anyway heres some pics... btw the second pic was after i took the three screws out. Edited January 14, 2013 by Cory74700 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORCGuide Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 Lucky uh sport fish poop. . . your aircleaner is different from mine. The AB valve (that thing directly in front of the air cleaner with a vacuum hose on the top) is bolted to my lower aircleaner pan. Also, a brace on the aircleaner pan bolts directly to the bosses visible in your third picture on top of the drivers side valve cover. Must be an XE or KKKalifornia thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cory74700 Posted January 14, 2013 Author Share Posted January 14, 2013 Yes it had bolts at one point the brace is there there are just no bolts to worry about so its like taking off a carburetor lower pan =] but I figured out when I ran my codes I forgot to flip the switch back to normal mode on my ecu, problem solved and that smell I had, was just burning the isopropyl alcohol out cuz I cleaned out the entry as well, now check engine light is off and she purrs like a kitten again instead of sounding like a 454 with a lopey cam haha and yes mine is rigged for California's jacked up smog policy hopefully ten years from now they'll move the smog exempt year to after 88 and I can get rid of the smog crap Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cory74700 Posted January 14, 2013 Author Share Posted January 14, 2013 Yes it had bolts at one point the brace is there there are just no bolts to worry about so its like taking off a carburetor lower pan =] but I figured out when I ran my codes I forgot to flip the switch back to normal mode on my ecu, problem solved and that smell I had, was just burning the isopropyl alcohol out cuz I cleaned out the entry as well, now check engine light is off and she purrs like a kitten again instead of sounding like a 454 with a lopey cam haha and yes mine is rigged for California's jacked up smog policy hopefully ten years from now they'll move the smog exempt year to after 88 and I can get rid of the smog crap Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Precise1 Posted January 14, 2013 Share Posted January 14, 2013 Interesting! Thanks, I learned something today. X2 with using Ispropyl Alcohol, Q-tip and care. B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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