Well, OBD2 has 8 monitors, and they run in a certain order and at certain times during a regular drive. If your MAF decided to have an issue, the OBD2 tests will throw that code and stop there, even if more components are bad (like your EGR).
That being said, the tests are usually accurate (except PCV), and if it has an issue it tends to lead to that part. However, the sensors test (comprehensive) can be fooled if other sensors on a circuit are causing issues so forth. IIRC the AC level switch is one of these that shorts out on GMS a lot, but can throw man other codes.
SO! Before you go replacing an expensive MAF, test it!!!
First, simply unplug it with the car running... it should start running like crap or even die. If nothing happens, then the MAF/wiring/harness is for sure bad. If it indeed stumbles/dies/something the MAF is in general working order.
These MAFs are 3 wire I'm pretty sure. Use your multimeter (it's gotta be a pretty expensive one that has an option to read DC Hertz). One wire should have 12v on it. The other should have .0X volts (ground), and the last one left is signal. Once power and ground are OK, backprobe the signal wire and set the MM to read DC Hz. Run the car. At idle you should see 2000Hz. Now, rev it... number should go up. You may need to press something like a max/min button, which will save the max/min numbers and allow you to scroll through. Get it to look for max, now snap the throttle WOT quick. The max it should see is around 8-9000 Hz. If it sees all that, the MAF is good. If it reads, but too low, it's almost assuredly dirty. Pull it out, spray it down with MAF cleaner.
See if that alleviates the MAF code issue. If not you're going to have to start poking around for other things that would throw a false MAF code. The OBD2 tests also test for rationality.. generally MAF will be compared against MAP and TPS. You could test those, too, if you're bored and desperate lol.
TPS signal wire: .5 closed... 4.5 open.. look for evenly rising numbers
MAP signal wire: 1.2 - 1.6V at idle... snap it and look for 3.5v or higher. Also pull vacuum on it and make sure it doesn't leak down.
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Last edited by clutch1 : 03-06-2010 at 02:50 PM.
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