My xB started idling like sh*t and would't rev over 3000 rpm last week...

Extensive forum searching lead to a variety of suggested causes, including a toasted MAF sensor.

My dealer checked my box and told me they couldn't confirm that the Injen CAI was to blame until I restored the intake to the factory airbox setup. They won't investigate any further until I do so. Codes P0101 and P0103 pointed to high airflow volume errors present.

The service writer did tell me that the AEM intake is the only intake approved because it has proven compatible with Toyota's _____-sensitive MAFs (my opinion not his.)

So why does Injen sell an intake that will inevitably cook your MAF? I spend $250 for what I think is the best CAI out there only to find that it is harmful to my engine (and wallet) if installed and used as instructed??

Is frequent MAF replacement an unadvertised side effect of Injen intakes? I had it on the car for less than 200 miles - are their products THAT effective in ruining MAFs?

Comments anyone?

 

I've never heard of this problem before due to an Injen intake.

Let us know what happens and what caused this.

-Steve

 

This is what happens when you start replacing parts on cars. I know with my older 1990 mustang, even installing a cone intake filter system can wreak havoc with the MAF and require a MAF calibration. Don't let the kiddies fool you, swaping parts like fuel injectors, MAFs, headers, etc... can require retuning or will cause driveablity issues if the stock ecu can't compensate. With a car on a warranty it's best to just play by their rules until the warranty is up...

 

Maybe it's just me and poor Nick...

 

^^^Oh and "juicy"...

and a another reference from sithscripter...

 

wow that's crazy my xb has an injen sri and i've had no problems what so ever. did you leave it running for ten minutes after you installed it so that your mafs can recallibrate with the new intake?

 

I have had mi injen on there for atleast 2k miles and havn't had a problem. I drive it hard alot and it works fine. I am not sure what is wrong with yours. You may just have a deff. maf.
I have a few friends that have injen intakes on all sorts of cars and they have never had problems. I am pretty sure that a respectable man. like injen would do a lot of R&D before they sold a product. Why risk the lawsuits?
My 2cents
Dan

 

It's not the intake that's messing up the MAF Sensor, it's the filter oil you put on the filter when you installed the filter. Many cars with the MAF right behind the filter, such as a SRI on an xB, or a SRI on Nissan SR20DET or Miata have the same problem - you need to either be VERY careful when you clean/re-oil the filter, or use a filter that doesn't require oiling, such as a Blitz style mesh filter or a foam filter (I don't think weapon R needs filter oil). When you re-oil, just remove the filter, apply the oil, and then let it dry so there's not just excess oil dripping around that can possibly coat the MAF sensor & mess it up.

 

Like I said, installed correctly and as the product was shipped. No extra oiling or modifications... installed the Injen air filter as it was sent.

I have the true Injen CAI - with about two feet of tube following roller coaster routing for the airflow from the filter to the MAF... what I thought was plenty of length for any "oil" to settle before collecting on my oh-so-sensitive MAF... NOT the short-ram which must just COAT the MAF with oil residue if my CAI manages to foul it from a filter located at the bottom of my fender.

I removed the MAF and swabbed out the area immediately around the MAF mounting area... no oil residue, just aluminum dust from the tube.

Yes one would think that Injen did some R & D before releasing the CAI... but then again how much real world testing could've been done on such a new car AND a new part. I've only had my car for 950-1000 miles and the intake has been on for only 200!

Keep the comments coming - at least this topic might help save some MAFs out there!

 

Trouble like that at 1000 miles ... it hurts to hear stories like this

I've met any number of xA and xB owners, probably half of whom had an Injen intake of one flavor or another, and I've never seen this happen to anyone else. But I don't doubt that it does happen to some people, such as yourself.

I think it's reasonable to assume that every now and then a filter gets over-oiled at the factory. Another wild guess -- maybe your piston rings haven't fully seated yet and you got contamination from engine oil via the breather hose.

See what the dealer says, save the parts and try to give Injen a call. Maybe they'll cover part or all of it under warranty.

On the bright side, if the xB MAF sensor really costs only $170 you're in pretty good shape. I've heard of Lexus dealers charging $1000 for the same thing. But at least the Lexus dealer will give you a free soy latte while you wait.

 

Re-thinking that engine mod I was planning. Gonna wait and see what happens on this thread.

Good info .......

 

Injen makes a very good product but you might have prblems with the maf some mafs are more sensitive than others within the same car lines. i wouldn't say the air tube is at fault, it may be oiled to much or could have a bad filter or a bad sensor. i have aslo heard of mafs that where bad when the car left the factory but it didn't affect anything untill a change was made. maf's don't just die and an air intake will not cause the maf to die, they get dirty pretty easy from to much oil or a dirty air filter but you can clean it and it will work fine agin. the only time you have a recalibrate a sensor is if you change the injectors to largerones or soemthing like that, air intakes and headers and things will not affect it

 

Purchased electrical contact cleaner, cleaned the MAF, reset the ECU with the whole battery disconnect/EFI fuse pull and STILL no improvement. I did all this before I went to the dealer...

I would have thought a thorough cleaning would've done the trick, but not so far... I even disconnected the MAF while the engine was running... the rough idle didn't change at all - leading me to believe that the MAF isn't sending ANY info to the ECU if disconnecting it makes no difference to the way the engine idles.

Next theory?

 

you can't reset the ecm by pulling the fuse or disconecting the battery it has mem unit in it that will store all the infomation for up too 5 days on toyota's. you should not ever unplug a sensor with the engine running or the key on. take the car to the dealer and let the pro's mess with it. they can't tell you to take a part off the car for warenty work unless they have found the part to have caused the fault. the an cold air intake will not hurt that sensor in way. a car with that few miles shouldn't have any problems take it to the dealer and make them fix it.

 

Claiming warranty should solve everything is a grey area:

and Injen's warranty will only cover a "defect" in their product's workmanship, not to how it f*cks up another part:Note how they put the burden on "fighting the dealership" on their customers...

And when somebody raises a valid point:

The response has the usual loopholes:
and if I do run at high-revs alot? Minimal to none? Maybe "minimal" IS all it takes to cook the MAF... Oh and we are aware of the problem, but rather than include the inline filter (which we charge $8.00 for on our site) we make you pay extra for this thing because we care so much about our customers.

^^^^Hey, guess what? It ain't as simple as that

Better check your math because I think the equation is still pretty f*cked up...

Maybe if they had done a little more testing and research on the intake and a little less time and resources on the engine cover and oil filler cap projects, the intake would be as reliable as the car it was meant for...

 

i have about 9200 miles on my xb and have had the injen cold air intake on for about 500 and have had no problems with it.

 

Heres the deal. Seen it a million times. The filter oil you hosed the filter with got on the hot wire of the MAF sensor. Unplug the MAF and see if it runs better (this works on VW's anyway- once it doesn't get a signal from it- it used limp home mode preprogrammed signal and runs fine) If it runs different you know the MAF is sending the wrong signal. Also check for a vacuum leak where a silcone hose slid off- this will do it too. But I'd be willing to put money on that airfilter oil got on the hotwire. We used to get this in our airflow lab at work when would do independent testing on filter setups. Since the MAF is already F-ed, hose some break clean or carb cleaner on it. Works about 90% of the time. Just don't put the red hose on the end of the can and put it right on the hotwire. They are pretty fragile.

 

I didn't oil the f*ing filter!

Cleaning the MAF didn't fix the problem!

 

To save the original poster the aggravation because he seems to be pretty close to the edge right now ...

... read the thread. He's already tried all that.

 

Whoops, too late :oops: