(Yeah - I'm posting this on a bunch of boards... sue me )

So I've been bitching about lack of power for a looong time now and I've blamed it mostly on my big heavy tires and gears.

I've heard people talk about cleaning the mass airflow sensor before when loss of power is discussed - but I've never looked into it until today.

Check out mine:






What's really bad is that I know exactly where that mud came from (Barnwell) - and I haven't mudded out there since I first started wheeling about 3 YEARS AGO.... so it's been like this the whole time.

I might get 20 horsepower out of a Q-tip this afternoon... we'll see

After a little denatured alcohol and some sharpened Q tips:

results?

I got about as much power from my MAF cleaning as I got from switching my 4.6 gears out for 5.14 gears... pretty substantial.

My truck is DRIVEABLE again. I got on the freeway briefly and going slightly uphill at 70mph on a windy day in overdrive I was able to not only maintain speed - but also accelerate a little while still keeping it in overdrive.

Too bad I didn't notice this 3 YEARS ago when I went through the mud that fouled it. I've driven 50,000 miles with a de-powered truck

Wow...

How much crap when though the intake. That's real bad.

went out and checked mine today after some nice muddy water yesterday. Clean as a whistle.

Looks like yours must not have been screwed down tightly enough, and water got in around the mounting surface.

Good find though!

I'm a noob to the whole personal maintence position, is this an easy thing to do for anyone?

Thanks for the any input, I've been finding my power has been down a little bit recently especially below 3k RPM.

It is an easy procedure Eric, just be sure not to apply too much pressure to the little wires. And as noted, the proper solvent, or even rubbing alcohol should be used, not brake or carb cleaner.. There is a lot of info on keeping your truck running right here. Search through the performance and backyard mechanic forums for answers to your questions. Anything you can't find there, post up and some'll be happy to help. Well, they'll help, I can't promise you they'll be happy.
Welcome to the XOC

MAF Cleaner
Brent found this one.

I have been doing mine every other oil change. Pretty good results with the very first cleaning. Found it at PepBoys

Thanks for the info, I've been browsing this forum for awhile and finally feel as though I can add a little bit to it here and there. When I went to clean it I found out I had a few other issues. I had been in an accident 2 year ago to the driver front corner and it turns out that the air box (? actual term) that was under my engine compartment above the right front wheel was never screwed back in place. I just need to get a nut to tighten the screw in place.

Without the help from you guys/girls I'd probably never notice that and eventually spend a fortune for some stupid little repair.

i have a related question about the Mass airflow sensor. on the k&n air intake kit the mas doesnt fit into the tubing correctly. ill try to get a pic up sometime but what the problem is that the screw holes and mounting hole on the sensor and tube dont line up. any comments or anyone else had this problem?

I got this at Pep Boys too. Idle smoothed out a little, but my MAF wasn't all that dirty to begin with. 120k miles. Worth $6. Cleaned the air intake temp sensor, too.

Yeah I'll deffinetly have to rip mine apart and clean it up..I bet mine looks the same..

Did you get this solved yet? Maybe you got the wrong K&N kit? Wrong year? Post some pics lets have a look

I owe you one Kaiser. I was cleaning the Airaid on the X yesterday and I figured I'd check out the sensor while I was under the hood. I'd been experiencing a loss of power for a while but thought it was due to a dirty intake filter. The MAF was the cause. It looked like yours. I gave it the Q-tip treatment and the X runs great again.

Yeah there are two wire sensors that need to be cleaned; front and rear.

The get dirty more than you would think even if you don't play in the mud. Its pretty dusty out west so that maybe part of it for me.

I normally check mine when I clean the air filter and about half the time the MAS is dirty so I use the spray cleaner. BTW the air temp sensor is another one that gets dirty so check that one also, uses the same spray that you can normally find at the local parts places:
http://www.crcindustries.com/auto/content/prod_detail.aspx?PN=05110&S=Y