Gee, saw a MAF sensor on Amazon for $34.48 and jumped on it. Made in China, of course, Walker Products. My car 2001 XK8 with 50,000 miles.

Thought it worth a shot. They also sell others for $60 to $100 range FYI.

Will let you know if it works.

I watched a U-Tube video recently done by a mechanic showing how to tell if the MAF sensor was defective. He said try tapping on the sensor when the car is running to see if the motor stumbles or changes, If it does sensor is defective.

Next, disconnect the sensor, he says the ECM will have a back up to run the car, if things improve, your sensor is bad.

Then of course the primary way to check done by the experts is to tap into the current with a meter and check the output and watch to see if it increases with the the engine speed, as it is supposed to.

Interesting video. Little by little I am starting to understand how this darn thing works and how to determine if its the bad guy causing nasty codes and the check engine light.

 

The MAF may "work" but watch for codes at idle at light. NAPA units do this.

 

I cleaned mine. Ensure you only use MAF cleaner and not just carb cleaner.

It did make a difference. The other thing is ensure you clean the MAF sensor wire, which is hidden, and not just the temp sensor which I must admit I thought at first was the actual MAF sensor.

In the end I changed mine. Both cleaning and replacing are dead easy to do and really, really worth doing.

Just click here to see how I cleaned it.

And if your going to change it this may help click here too

 

Sounds like a reasonable price, but E-Bay has some for less. Purchased one for $17 and very pleased. Been on car for 1500 miles & 5 months with no hiccups or codes. It was one of a few at that price point, not cheapest, but not too expensive. Just want to try and see if it worked, nothing wrong with my OEM unit, which is now a spare. PM if someone would like a link.

 

It is amazing to me that the first price check for the MAF sensor was $258. I wonder if there really is a difference in quality or if they are all made in a little factory in China and marked up accordingly.

 

I do see a difference in the inexpensive MAF sensor, the sensor part is much smaller. Don't have a clue if that makes any difference. Once I get my issue sorted out I will swap it out and see if there is any operational difference.

 

 

Neil - not sure we'll ever know - OP hasn't been on the forum in over a year

 

Gee, sorry I did not follow up promptly. I got my password a screwed up, could not get on, and just got around to fixing the problem.

The Walker MAF sensor did work just fine and has for a very long time. Car is running fine now. But......I did change out the fuel filter too, cleaned out the throttle body with cleaner, Even used the correct MAF cleaner on the old MAF sensor. In the end I was 95% sure it was a defective MAF and the fix was the $34 Walker made in China unit.

These cars are sweet, my wife love hers, but the babies are sooooooo sensitive and require loving care.

 

good to hear it worked well!!!! marking as resolved

 

 

I bought one on eBay for $24 as a backup for my spares box. I will swap it out when I get it and report.

 

I´m looking to buy a new MAF Sensor too, but I´m overwhelmed by the scope of offers, so maybe someone could point me in the right direction?
(and YES, I did use the search function - extensively so ).

The cheapest one I could find on Amazon was this one:

That´s the most expensive one (again, on Amazon):

I don´t even know if both of them would fit my car (XKR 2002) & what makes the price difference?
Appreciate any hints and pointers.

 

Tried the $24 eBay MAF. At first I thought it worked perfectly. After a few miles of warm up driving during which the car performed normally, I took the car to my local back woods “acceleration testing” road. Stomped on the throttle 0-60 and noted 2 things. First acceleration time was unchanged from stock. Second all worked perfectly until.....I hit 60 mph and released the throttle as I normally would. The next 2 seconds were loud noises coming from the exhaust (maybe backfires, not sure) and the Limited Performance light on the dash. Pulled over shut off the engine and restarted. Limited Performance light went out and I drove home at normal speeds. At home I swapped in the OEM MAF and all has been normal since.
My take is that under normal driving parameters where we all drive 99.9% of the time the cheap MAF worked as it should.
At the extreme it did not work well when the motor was lugging (engine braking). I have my cheap one in my road kit as it would probably get me home but do not trust it for spirited driving.

 

there IS a difference between the XK8 and XKR sensors, at least I know there is a difference for my model year, 2002. I think the ones you listed are for the XK8 (my German is non-existant, so I could be wrong on those ads.

I do know people on the forum have had issues when they have tried to use budget sensors that were not made by Denso, the OEM manufacturer.

Z

 

Yep, stick to Denso MAF sensors. The headaches often created by the budget non-Denso sensors are simply not worth the issues they frequently cause....