MAF Sensor

Well, inevitably, my 300zx broke down... It started stalling at idle and being hard to crank, so I set out upon a quest to find the culprit. My first idea was the Crank Angle Sensor (which is part of the distributor on this particular car) so I replaced the distributor with one from a junkyard and (after three attempts to install it properly), it changed nothing. I was baffled so I went to the best source of advice when it comes to DIY repairs on cars: THE INTERNET! The guys over at Z31performance.com had a plethora of ideas as to what could be going wrong, but the most prevalent one was the Mass Air Flow sensor. This little guy tells the engine computer how much air is entering the engine and adjusts the amount of fuel sent to the engine to maintain the correct stoichiometric ratio (yes, I just want to sound smart). With it broken, the engine is just confused and doesn't run properly. I tried cleaning it and its connectors to no avail, so another trip to the junkyard was warranted. These guys at my local junkyard are becoming my new friends, to the point that I end up just chatting with them about all sorts of randomness while I'm at their shop and I'm pretty sure they think they are going to make a lot of money off of me and my 300zx, and they are probably right... Well anyways, I handed them $50, they handed me a MAF sensor, and I headed on home praying the whole time that this would get my car back on the road. I installed it and cranked up the car. It didn't stall right away, so I waited for it to warm up (it had been stalling just when the engine reached normal operating temperature) and waited for it to stall. It never did!

 

Excited, I took the car on a short 'test drive' and by test drive, I mean I turned my quiet little neighborhood into a makeshift racetrack... sorta... mostly responsibly. She performed excellently, and by excellently, of course I mean, I had it back to where it was before the MAF sensor went out! To be completely honest, I'm just happy I didn't make it worse! Maybe this is a first in a long line of things I actually manage to fix... maybe by the time I finish getting this car mechanically restored, I will know what I'm doing... Here's to hoping! :)