I finally realized today that the crappy gas mileage and doggy take offs are to blaime on the Mass airflow sensor. I took the whole thing off and connected my airfilter straight to the intake tube. Make take offs are quicker than ever and my dash is reading that i'm getting 30 mpg on average. I know I need a new one because the old one is broke, but what will happen if i run it the way it is without it.

 

thats interesting that the car runs pretty good without the mass air. Other cars wont even start or go very far without one on reading something. How long have you been driving it around like that?

 

i took it off at work during lunch today and drove about 35 to 40 miles. It really seems to be faster! I don't know if its good for it though because i actually can hear the turbo spool very high when i step on the gas, but it doesn't boost as high as it sounds. Taking off is allot quicker but the gears seem to be more jerky. I was driving in reg auto down a side street and it shifted down pretty hard. When i got home a little while ago, i took the MAF apart and soaked the sensor in 99% alcohol. i went and got a new k&n filter and came back and reinstalled the MAF and the new filter. My check engine light did come on while driving without the sensor. I drove the car around for a little and noticed that auto shifting was allot smoother and it always put my rpms below 2000 while driving regular. It felt good, but it lacked the power I had without it. My check engine light is still on, but I'm going to disconnect the battery and reset it and hopefully it doesn't come back on.

 

It’s not a good idea to drive around without a maf. Im sure you’ve noticed when you come to a stop the idle fluctuates for a while and the engine might even stall. The ecm uses both the throttle position sensor and the maf for most fuel computation. You may be alright for a while but like a said before it’s not a good idea. I forgot to plug my maf sensor in when I put on my cold air intake and I didn’t even really notice it until after a while my check engine light came on and the engine started to knock and almost stall when I would come to a stop.

btw. the thing about you saying it felt faster. i too felt a slight diffrence that i thought was the intake i put on. id rather have an engine that idles correctly than a slightlyyyy fast car.

 

as long as he has a 00+ a4 he'll be fine. the map sensor will take over.

and try cleaning the whole thing with electronics cleaner and see if that helps.

 

how does one remove the maf? i had some troubles...

 

i think on the 1.8t's its in the air box. thats where it was on my friends passat.

 

i have an 01, so it will not hurt to keep it off

 

i really dont think the map sensor is gunna be as nearly as accurate as the maf sensor and im not even sure the map sensor will read anything useful to the ecm unless your under boost. but hey if you dont mind having an unstable afr then go for it.

 

it's fine

and the maf is inbetween the TIP and the airbox. unless you have the special tool required to remove the maf bolts your gona have to remove the enclosure it's in. the enclosure is bolted to the airbox and connects to the TIP with a clamp