Trouble AcceleratingĪs we touched upon briefly above, you will notice acceleration problems if you don’t have the right balance of air and fuel in the combustion chamber. Your vehicle should always idle smoothly. If the engine is being starved of fuel, it will idle roughly, but it will also idle roughly if it’s being flooded by gasoline. Rough IdleĪnother problem with a lean or rich fuel mixture is idling.

If you are going to the gas station more often than normal, it could be the MAF. If your vehicle’s mass airflow sensor is erring rich, i.e., causing too much gas to be burned in the combustion chamber, you will notice a significant reduction in your fuel economy. The hesitation indicates there is too much air in the combustion chamber. HesitationĪn air and fuel imbalance can also cause your vehicle to hesitate or surge when you depress the accelerator and while you are driving. If the MAF is dirty or bad, you may end up with too much air and be unable to get your automobile started. When you fire up your automobile, the combustion chamber needs both air and fuel for the spark plugs to ignite. If the engine control module receives a MAF error code, it will turn on the check engine light to let you know that there is a problem with the engine. Check EngineĪ faulty mass airflow sensor is a common reason why a check engine light comes on. The additional fuel can also clog the catalytic converter. Too much fuel can wind up in the combustion chamber if the MAF is not sending correct readings to the engine control module. One sign that your vehicle’s MAF is going bad is black exhaust from excess fuel.

Advanced Automotive advises that it will also cause problems if it is going bad. If the mass airflow sensor is dirty, it won’t be able to detect the correct airflow. This auto part measures how much air is being drawn into your vehicle’s engine to make sure that the engine control module can keep the right balance of air and fuel in the combustion chamber. The mass airflow sensor is also called the MAF.

Audi a4 mass air flow sensor problems