My car has been running rich lately, had it at the shop for inspection and had my mechanic read the code cuz i figured the o2 sensors may have been shot. The code came from one of the rear sims? not sure why. but anyway, he checked my MAF, which is descreened, and there was a bird feather melted on the wires. He removed it and said it was all set. Will my MAF be alright or will that have damaged it? Could that have lead to my car running rich? I know there is a ton of MAF threads, but I searched and couldnt find one involving bird feathers ..thx in advance.

 

I bet a feather would screw things up pretty badly, but I'd tend to think it would make you run lean. I recently had a problem with a dirty maf and I was throwing lean codes from my o2's as well. My thinking is anything covering the elements in the maf is going to let unmetered air by.

 

if it was melted TO the unit, I would get it replaced or cleaned or something, because any material on the wires will cause your readings to be off. Hope it works out man, how did the feather get up in there??

Brad

 

Yeah, I'd try cleaning it and resetting the pcm to see if things get better. Try rubbing alcohol and a q-tip. Be CAREFUL while cleaning it! Good luck.

 

I might get the MAF replaced if I was you. You can find used ones on here for pretty cheap in the for sale section. If you have something melted on the wires chances are you won't get it clean without damaging something. Having that feather on the wire should make your car run lean, as the feather would act as an insulator on the wires. How the heck did a feather get in there

 

Actually I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier. The car will run lean until the O2's pick it up. When the O2's throw the lean code the pcm goes into closed loop, and runs off of programming (ignores sensors), which normally means pig rich.

 

I have no idea how I got a feather in there!?? But none the less, it was there. Anyway, I am going to look at it and see if it looks clean. My mechanic said he cleaned it so, we will see. Didnt seem to run rich on the way home but it did seem to ping a little. I am going to install a ls6 intake this week and then take it to get dynotuned. Hopefully it will be taken care of.

 

While installing the intake,ya might check for the rest of the bird

 

I think I remember spitting it out one of my exhaust tips..

 

LMFAO!!

 

hmm i dont know...when my MAF was damaged you could greatly tell...my car was acting up and my shifter was idling hard, my car was revving itself up and going down, almost stalling.