I need to clean my MAF on my '96 4cyl. I found this writeup on cleaning the MAF, but my intake doesnt look like this.

http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/mainte...tenancep5.html

Anyone have a tutorial or pics on cleaning the MAF on a '96 ?

 

Its virtually the same, if you take about the top half of your airbox housing, there is a sensor cable that plugs in to a unit on the top of the airbox. That unit is the sensor unit, look down the tube of the airbox housing and you should see the same tiny electrodes. Clean those with a q-tip and you're there, but be very careful not to push or "scrub" to hard, they are very sensitive/fragile!

 

I should clarify, you dont' need to "scrub"...you just need to lightly twist the top of the q-tip on the top of the sensor with the cleaning agent applied. When I did this I was able to get a blackish residue on the head of the q-tip.

Again be very gentile!

 

Never used a q-tip and would be afraid to do so. Disconnect the battery cable before you do anything. Remove the two screws holding the MF sensor to the box and then unplug the wire harness. Now spray the diodes with electronic cleaner only. Spray it good and then let it dry and replace it and hook the battery back up and your good to go.

 

The MAF on a 96-98 are quite a bit different from the ones on 99-02 4runners.

The MAF looks like this:


Here's the hot wire part you're trying to clean (you can see the thermistor and hot wire in the very center):


Either eletrical cleaner or brake cleaner (nothing that leaves a residue!) will work but to be safe most just use the electrical cleaner only and a Q-tip if you need to (just be very careful because the wires are delicate).

 

I removed the MAF from my Tacoma, and this is what it looks like.

Can I just spray a mist through the screen, or should I remove the screen also? It looks like a snap ring is used to hole the screen.

The wires do look very delicate. One of them is somewhat shiny, but the other is a little dark. I just want to make sure this is the correct part

 

Jamie, Yep, sure is different alright. Thanks for pointing that out to me.I'm still a little hesitant to recommend q-tips but it seems like some of the guys on here do it that way and it works good. With my clumsy fingers I would break a wire for sure,Lol. Mike