Advice needed: CEL after I cleaned vararam filter and MAF card

[RichsGreyGT]

(tuning by Rick Crawford)
Car was running fine
> two weeks ago, disconnected battery, removed Vararam, cleaned filter and sprayed CEC MAF clean on my LS7 card style MAF
> allowed 2+ hours to dry
>reassembled
> drove next day and CEL came on
> hooked up HPT, P0171
> removed Vararam again and double/tripled checked all connections
> reassembled
> drove briefly, threw CEL (this time P0171 and 174 i believe)
> cleared codes
> out of desperation, disconnected battery for a couple of hours
>Bought and started Lucas fuel injector cleaning kit. still on first bottle.
> drove multiple times and it was fine
> last night took to grocery store down the street. THE CODE CAME BACK

I didn't touch anything else on the car. I can't believe its a vacuum leak. I've tried to find all the hoses to make sure nothing wiggled loose.

I emailed Rick but he is so busy, he might not ever get to my message.

I have some wild theories....I fried the MAF with that spray OR Rick tuned car long time ago and I kept sending scans and A/F gauge readings of 11.x and he kept leaning out tune till he said he has never cut that much fueling. Was my filter so clogged up that cleaning it tipped me over the edge of too lean and the computer is throwing the code now?



Any suggestions?


its times like these when I almost wish I had a bone stock Vette or something instead of a modded car. I love my G8 soooo much though.

[MongosG8]

I had the same codes come up when my PCV tube was not installed properly on my VCM.
Sometimes the filters on the Vararam and VCM do not seat properly.
As for cleaning the MAFS ..I never heard of an issue due to cleaning it nor the filter. Shouldn't make that huge of a difference unless you had the tune when the filter had 12000 miles of dirt roads on it.

[TA427]

+ 1 on the pcv connections, if you dont find it there, scan the short fuel trims while spraying carb cleaner on all fittings past the arrow of the maf, when or if short fuel trims drop rapidly, you found the leak area. What did you clean it with ? Not all cleaners agree with maf sensors.may want to double check maf surface

[RichsGreyGT]

I just yanked apart the intake.

I bought some green filter cleaner. I sealed the pvc connector between MAF and throttle body.

I'm going to lightly oil the filter this time and button it up and see what happens. Orginally I just cleaned out with warm water.

+ 1 on the pcv connections, if you dont find it there, scan the short fuel trims while spraying carb cleaner on all fittings past the arrow of the maf, when or if short fuel trims drop rapidly, you found the leak area. What did you clean it with ? Not all cleaners agree with maf sensors.may want to double check maf surface

[RichsGreyGT]

I used CRC Mass Air Flow Sensor Cleaner on the MAF card and the housing and wiped down with a lint free cloth.

[RichsGreyGT]

Oh thanks for the replies too!

heck if I keep getting the CEL and the P0171 code, I'm just gonna buy a new MAF card off ebay and install it.

[TA427]

You wiped the internal sensing part ? Not good, imagine your job is to measure every single gram of air every second. That is way more sensitive than most gals when we spend on our pride and joy !. If you had a scanner and exhuasted the usual checks, you could unplug the sensor and watch the long and short fuel trims and see of they get close to normal + - 8%.. if a bad sensor they will change . Maybe send some close up pics of the maf interior

[RichsGreyGT]

I did not wipe or touch the sensor wires in the card but I did spray inside the card with the MAF spray.

I air dried it afterwards. I'm tuning ignorant. No clue how to watch those engine readings. I pay Rick Crawford for email tunes.

You wiped the internal sensing part ? Not good, imagine your job is to measure every single gram of air every second. That is way more sensitive than most gals when we spend on our pride and joy !. If you had a scanner and exhuasted the usual checks, you could unplug the sensor and watch the long and short fuel trims and see of they get close to normal + - 8%.. if a bad sensor they will change . Maybe send some close up pics of the maf interior

[TA427]

I hear ya bud, im no tuner either, just a diagnostics wizzard for GM. If you need further help we will walk you through it. Rick is the man, will be contacting him soon for a torque monster blower cam. Keep us posted

[RichsGreyGT]

Update: I had to clear the P0171 twice with HPTuners. The CEL has not come back.

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