Thread: Seems like I always have a problem...

So, after regrounding my MAF last night, the car seemed to be running 10x better than ever, idle was dead on and felt good, and the car was pulling hard. I took a 30 mile drive to the mall today, everything feeling great the whole way... Park it, go inside for a few hours, come out and start it up, drive it to the other side of the mall to where my girl thing parked her car. Get out to chat for a minute before leaving, and the car starts sputtering... idle was going crazy, up and down for 10-15 seconds (I was out of the car but I'd imagine going between 600-1800rpm), and then the car finally just stalls out completely. I pop the hood, wiggle the connection on my MAF thinking maybe it was just loose, also make sure my battery terminals were tight since I had them off the night before.. Close the hood, hop in, and start driving. It is feeling super jerky at light throttle (maybe 5-10% to hold speed). Not even limp mode jerky like when my cone fell off, it was straight bucking and throwing me around. I step on the gas and it takes off like normal (thought maybe I was just creeping at too low of RPM) so I'm like OK it is fine. As soon as I stop accelerating it is doing it again, but not as bad. I get about a mile up the road to applebees to meet the girl thing again, and the idle is crazy still. Applebees is slammed, so we drive another 3 miles to another restaurant, and the car seems fine. I go in and eat, come out an hour later, start it up, and everything seems to be running great. It sat at idle for about 2hrs while we were "talking" in the back of the parking lot. Never acted funny once during this time. I finally get in and drive off, stop at the gas station, fill it up with the usual super93, and drive the 30 miles back home and everything seems great.

Seriously though, wtf...

TLDR!

welcome to my world brother. i basically have the same problem. i have a thread about it. even the local mechanics wont touch it, saying its too much confusion

Sounds like it was the MAF again. Either something got unsettled and popped back into place, or you're going to have more problems with it soon. I had similar issues (+ stalling) with my failing MAF and the issues came and went depending on conditions. Wet conditions always made it much worse. Hopefully something popped back into place and that is all there is to it.

Yes. I know it is MAF related. I was throwing a code before I regrounded it and haven't reset it yet nor checked if the grounding got rid of the code (Just did this last night). The car is other than those ten minutes tonight, running better than ever. I plan on replacing the MAF as well as all of my intake asap. Had picked up another MAF from Jay but it was highport and didn't fit, so I'm mailing it back to him and taking some credit toward my next purchase from him.

Anyways, I'm on the hunt.. I think I may just go ahead and upgrade the MAF now, since I'm sure it will happen sooner or later anyways. I'm almost thinking my problem might just be in the MAF connector, so upgrading would take care of it either way, whether it be the connector or the MAF itself.

I'll get around to hooking it to a scanner this weekend and see what I'm throwing.

If it comes down to it, I will run entirely new wiring for the MAF, and upgrade to a better MAF to get rid of the possibility of a bad connector as well.

I've read up into your problems, why not just run an entirely new read wire from the MAF to fuse box to ECU, as well as new +/- wires? Seems like the easiest way for a 100% fix..

that gives you another reason to buy my car haha.

I know lol, believe me I want to... But, the father wont help me out with yet another car, and my income doesn't allow it without a lot of time to save :P

Why were you idling for 2 hours?!! You dont have a diesel under the hood, gas motors dont like to idle for that long.

Have you changed the fuel filter, checked timing or spark plug gap lately? Also, just buy another maf...

I know almost 100% it is MAF related.

& yeah, I know I shouldn't have been idling that long... But the girl things parents dont approve of me, so I take my opportunities as they come, and in this case, it was too cold in the back of the car to be in there with no heat

Lesson 1 - Car > Girl, Girlfriend, Fiance, Wife.