Hi all,

I was working on the car and blocked the MAF with a plastic glove while cleaning other engine components (didn't want the MAF to get dirty...). Then I forgot about it and when I started the engine it partially sucked in the glove and broke the metal mesh or filter just before the MAF (yes, I am retarded raised to the n-th power...). Luckily nothing else happened really so I just removed the filter (and the glove...) and the car is running smoother than ever.

The obvious question is whether it's ok to run without this filter, assuming that my air filter is spot on and nothing will get into the MAF. I know that that mesh might be there to decrease the Reynolds numbers and things like that (turbulences) but as a matter of fact the car seems to be running as smooth as ever if not better (I cleaned the air filter so it's possibly running smoother because of that, I am not suggesting that it's better due to removing the mesh).

Any suggestions? I am afraid I won't be able to just find a replacement or even build my own mesh as that would be even more dangerous for the MAF. Another interesting thing to know would be whether the orientation of this filter makes any difference...

Cheers,

Miq.

 

My gut feeling ....and that's all it is...is to forget about it. But, let's wait for others who actually know something to chime in.

As for being retarded to the n-th power....

Years ago I was reinstalling a cylinder head on an old XJ6. It's common practice to stuff rags into the timing chain area so that a dropped bolt or widget won't fall all the way down into the engine.

There comes a time in the job, after the timing chains, cam gears, etc. are buttoned up, when you turn the engine over with a breaker bar/tommy bar to make sure everything rotates smoothly, double check timing marks, etc.

You likely have no idea how many hours it takes to remove all the shards of chewed-up rags from the timing chains and gears


Cheers
DD

 

Thanks Dough, to be honest I am under the same impression as I believe the MAF is a hot wire one and the mesh shouldn't affect much the air flow through it.

Removing all those rags from the timing chains sounds fun

I guess these things happen when we play around with our cars!