I know this has been debated back and forth, and i went the wrong way. i got my camaro about 8 months ago, and did all the free mods, one of them being descreening my MAF. I didnt really know abnout this board at the time, it ewas just somehting i had heard to do. AFter doing it, i thought i could feel a little difference, but did not feel any driveability changes. The car still ran smooth, and everything seemed good. i noticed about 3 months later that my car was starting to develop a rough idle and my gass millage started to drop. Now 5 months after the descreeening, my car shakes like crazy at a stoplight, and i am getting about 8MPG! After reading som threads a few months ago, i found that the MAF could be the problem. I swapped it 2 weeks ago with my buddies 96 Z and OMG the differnce was amaizing. Back up to 15-18 MPG, and the smoothes idle ever. So this is for everyone who thinks descreening their maf is a good idea: IT IS NOT! DO NOT DO THIS!!! Even if your car runs fine just after doing it, wait...you'll see. I just hope you others cxan learn from my misfortune . and, if you would like a ported MAF, i will trade someone for a perfect one!) haha

 

I'm still going to say what I say every time this comes up, you HAD to have damaged the sensor or had the sensor fail for what you describe. I've had my MAF descreened and self-ported for over 2 years, never had any problem. Know other guys with the same, no problems for even longer than me. If all you did was descreen, your MAF must have went bad. The way to check is if you put your screen back in and it does the same thing as your buddy's MAF. But it's not going to do that, because the descreening was not the problem.

 

why would you do it to begin with
i'm sure that screne is a HUGE restriction

 

I descreened mine..after about a 1-2 weeks my gas mileage went to crap. My sensor looks like crap too. I guess My SES light came on after taking the screen out, and for some reason I can't scan for it to no the problem? I am getting 10mpg. Maybe this is my problem?

-Corey

 

I dont know it has never thrown a code and i descreened poted and polished. I was VERY careful, and everyting still looks to be in tip top shape. I found a guy who wants to trade cause he thinks thi is better o well see what happens. Maybe it has somehting to do with the rest of the mods done to the car as well?

 

M A F, Mahhhhhhhffffff, sounds funny to us 93 owners.


As far taking the screen out, from what I know, it wont cause any harm. People have been doing since 1985, with no ill effects.

 

Descreening your MAF won't make your car run like crap. What happened is you must have damaged or or more of the diodes and it went out of calibration. I've replaced hundreds of MAF sensors and one thing they all had in common is they still had thier screens in. I've also seen cars in the shop with their MAF screens removed but so far I haven't had to replace one of those. The main cause of MAF sensors going bad is dirt hitting the diodes and ruining them, usually from a dirty air filter or an air leak between the MAF and air filter. The screen won't stop small dirt, its there to straighten the airflow so it gets a more accurate reading of the airflow.

 

ok one quick ? for ya, how is the descreening gonna do that when the granitelli (spelling) comes w/o one???

 

I descreened mine awhile back too but i am not sure if my gas mileage went down becasue of that or because i got rid of my cats? My idle is really rough too but i really dont think it has to do with the screen but i guess i could be wrong. What do ya'll think? I get about 13 mpg.

 

I've had mine de-screened (initially by removing the screen and later by using using the Whisper MAF ends) since 1997 with no ill effects that I'm aware of.

 

I think that anyone that is only getting 10-15 mpg with just bolt ons, has something wrong. I was running 4.10 in a a4 with a supercharger and all the bolt ons, and still saw 17-21 mpg. As long as I was'nt full throttle everywhere. Like others have said, pulling the screen won't hurt the maf. It probably has some sort of damage from dirt or debris. I along with many people have done this mod and have had no problems.

 

Hand ported my own and descreened it almost 2 years ago, was very carefull and have had zero problems. I did develope a rough idle after a while but that turned out to be a cracked plug. Runs like a champ. I was very carefull with my sensor and regularly check my air filter and and clean the sensors in the MAF with carb cleaner. Just a few squirts and they shine without touching them at all. Just wanted to share my positive experience with a ported and descreened MAF. IMHO I believe you damaged the sensors or your problem is beign caused by something else as stated above. Goodluck.

*Edit* I get 15-16mpg in the city and 27mpg on the highway.

 

I de-screened mine and still get 27mpg

 

i would try cleaning the MAF with brake parts cleaner then try it if its the same then the sensor prolly got messed up

 

carb cleaner won't hurt the electodes in the maf? I've been wanting to clean mine, but I'm afraid that would hurt it. How many of you clean yours and with what products?? thanx