That dam Throttle body!

[Laffers]

I've used this site at various times to get answers to problems with my 2000 micra 1000 auto. Its always been very helpful and I feel it's time to try and give something back.

over the past year my micra has been increasingly exhibiting the following symptoms.

Occasionally hard to start.
hesitant when pulling away.
lack of top end power ( above 50mph) ( well more so than usual :grinning: ).

To cut a long story short, after trawling various web pages and forums it seemed that it's all down to this dreaded mass airflow sensor in the throttle body.

Not wanting to purchase a part that's worth more that the car and also being a bit of a cheap skate I tried a plan B. I purchase a some carburettor cleaner in a spray can, removed the air filter cover, removed the plastic grill from the top of the tb. Using the applicator straw, liberally spray the cleaner down the center of the tb onto the MAF sensor. Obviously I did this when the engine was cold. reassembled and left for 1 hour to allow all surplus fluids to evaporate.

When I started the engine it was like a new car.

P.S. Anyone know how to reset the engin warning light other that disconnecting the battery? I heard that this could reset the codes for the coil packs.

 

[rlees85]

if that works then niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice post!!! how do you take the plasic mesh off the top of the throttle body off though??

 

[Laffers]

There are 2 grills on top of the tb. The top plastic grill is removed by taking off the split metal ring. Under the grill is a metal mesh grill which I decided to leave in place as I could see the MAF sensor with the aid of a flash light once the plastic grill had been removed. I just blasted the carb cleaner through. One tip though. Wipe this metal mesh clean before you start squirting. you don't want to deposit any more dirt on the sensor and make it worse.

Quick update on the car. Stated great this morning and accelerated away perfectly after the cold start.:grinning:

 

[rlees85]

what carb cleaner did you use? i have a problem with my car (its either the maf or o2 sensor) and this sounds like a really cheap thing to try first

 

[Laffers]

I used Wynn's Air Intake & Carburettor Cleaner ( for Petrol Engines).

 

[rlees85]

tried it today, seems to have sorted it.. nice one also my brothers fiesta had a massive mis-fire between 2,000-4,500rpm so we tried cleaning his MAF too and it fixed that too

so nice one lol! good find

 

[Auzzam]

did this help any petrol issues? give the normal mpg back?

 

[rlees85]

no but its worth a try, if it doesnt help your o2 sensor is probably broke

 

[Auzzam]

where is the o2 sensor? and if this is the case, would drinking the petrol completly help as i might be getting inaccurate readings of petrol levels, or is that what the o2 sensor does?

 

[rlees85]

the o2 sensor is the one poking out of the exhuast manifold... it basically tells the ECU how rich/lean the engine is running, the ECU then adjusts the petrol mix as required....

faulty o2 sensor symptoms are failed emissions, drinking fuel, engine light and misfiring (normally at low RPM from my experiance)

 

[xclare75x]

many thanks for the tip x