Your automobile’s engine intakes air in order to mix it with fuel for engine combustion. The mass airflow sensor (MAF) measures the amount of air the engine brings in. This ensures that the combustion chamber always has the ideal air amount to meet your power demands. If the mass airflow sensor is malfunctioning, your engine performance will suffer. Trojan Auto Care lists signs of MAF failure below.
Check Engine
If the air and fuel ratio is either too full of air or doesn’t have enough air, your car, truck, or utility vehicle’s engine control module will turn on the check engine light. This is to alert you of a problem in the engine. An MAF malfunction can make the combustion misfire in the cylinders.
Sluggish Acceleration
If the MAF is reporting the incorrect air amount and your fuel mixture is lean, you will notice that it is more difficult to get your automobile to accelerate. When you step on the gas, it will sputter and fight to pick up speed. This means there’s too much air and not enough gas in the engine.
Idling Trouble
A lean mixture will also make your engine idle roughly. This can happen because the engine is not getting enough gasoline to keep running when you are at a stop. You will hear sputtering and, if the problem is bad enough, your engine may stall.
Gas Mileage Decrease
Because a malfunctioning mass airflow sensor affects the air and gas in the combustion chamber it also affects your gas mileage. If the engine has to work harder because it doesn’t have enough gas, or if the engine is burning away excess gas, your gas mileage will be reduced significantly.
Exhaust Smoke
The mass airflow sensor can also over report the amount of air in the engine if it’s malfunctioning and the engine control module will add more gas to the mixture. This causes a rich fuel mixture, and as the engine burns away the excess gas, you might see black exhaust smoke coming out of your tailpipe.
Engine Performance Struggles
A lean fuel mixture will make your engine struggle to perform and a rich fuel mixture will make your engine surge. Surging can be frightening, especially if the surge is extreme. An engine surge means that your vehicle suddenly picks up speed even though you haven’t press down harder on the accelerator.
Starting Troubles
Finally, because the MAF sensor helps control the air and fuel mixture for engine combustion, you may have trouble starting your automobile if the mass airflow sensor is malfunctioning. It could be that there’s not enough air in the engine or there’s too much air.
We are Trojan Auto Care, and you’ll find our full-service auto repair shop in Troy, OH. Give us a call today if you are struggling with engine performance issues or a check engine light warning.
