Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Duratec Performance Open air elements, KKM's etc.....

last night we cleaned out my KKM after my buddy had talked to a ford engineer that hangs out on his (older gen cougar) forums... The engie said that open filters are fine, and indeed better than the stock airboxes, however oiled filters such as the K&N are far worse for you in the long run. The problem comes into play with your MAF. Your sensor is actually a thin wire with another thin wire wrapped around it. Oil from these filters builds up on the wire and corrupts the signal. We tore mine apart last night after we cleaned my filter (and tb, man was that gross) all you have to do is unscrew the sensor from the top of the tube (unscrew the part the wiring harness plugs into) then pull it out carefully, one touch on that thin wire, and you've just bought yourself a new MAF. Mine was crudded up with oil, sure enough. To clean the sensor all you have to do is use some windoex or other non aerisol glass cleaner (dont use anything harsh like stp or simple green) spray that on the wire and let it set for about 5 minutes, then blow off the excess, and let it set until dry. Reinstall, reset your computer (pull fuses, unplug the battery, whichever way you prefer) and fire that bad boy up. After about 10 minutes of driving the computer recalibrated itself and it made a noticeable difference, i did not re-oil my kkm after we cleaned it, the guys at the shop tell me it wont get destroyed witout being oiled, and i dont want to be pulling apart that MAF often with the sensitive wires being exposed.... hope this helps...

You have some good points in there but there are some things that aren't quite right also.

1) Yes, oil on the MAF wire is bad
2) No, don't clean with windex, use an electronics part cleaner preferably
3) No, oiling a filter does not necessarily mean that oil will gather on the MAF. It will gather if you overoil your filter
4) No, it is not good to run your filter sans oil. The filter is just a piece of cloth basically, as water seeps into the cloth it will begin to rot away and those fibers will make their way into your engine. Oil keeps the cloth from drying out and rotting.

The oil also traps dirt. If you don't oil a cotton gauze airfilter, excess dirt and grit will get inside your engine. It's a lot cheaper to replace or clean a MAF sensor than an engine.

touche`, maybe i should go oil the beast, at any rate it was my experience, not my scientific advice thanks for the counter-argument though

yup, krafty's right.

btw, technically, you are supposed to steam clean the MAF, many people also use brake cleaner, basically anyhting that will leave ZERO residue (this is why the electronics cleaner works)

why would u have to reset the pcm? if it is getting a "cleaner" signal, that should take effect immediatly.

Simple... A dirty MAF will typically report less air than there actually is, causing a lean condition as severe as 20%. The computer will notice that it's running lean based on the O2 readings and will alter the long-term fuel trim to correct for this. When you clean the MAF, the ECU doesn't know this right away and will run too rich for some time because it has already adjusted to the dirty MAF's skewed signal. If you don't reset the ECU, it will take longer for the computer to adjust, and you could experience rough idling and have other drivability issues in the mean time.

i still don't agree with this. the pcm is not going to let the car run lean, that is the whole point of the MAF sensor. why have it if the data is not used "on the fly", if the data was only for "long term fuel curves" then the HOS should suffice for reporting a rich/lean condition. if the pcm is sensing a surge of air, or more air overtime, in either condition it is going to dump more fuel, it's not going to lean the car out and risk engine damage.

Please notice that I am new. This may be a stupid question, but this modding world is new to me. How do you exactly oil your air filter?