2001 A4 B5 1.8TQ

Unplugged my MAF because I'm experiencing a power loss, and the car did indeed drive faster. Pickup was quicker and I don't know if it's because of the MAP, but the car rev'ed much higher rpm's before changing gears. It drove a lot faster....

But there was also a lot of surging involved. At one point (I was driving it hard to test it out) the car misfired and I felt a loud "clunk" in the engine, and right afterward at a traffic light I was at a complete stop and the car wouldn't stop surging. It was fairly bad.

When it turned green I continued on home, and the surging stopped when I came to a stop in front of my house.

MY QUESTION:
-When you unplug the MAF, is the car just supposed to run flawlessly better if indeed the MAF is bad? It was definitely faster, but the side effects were horrible. Is this a bad sign of something else that is wrong as well?

Thanks...

LampyB.

 

Clean the MAF filaments and see if that fixes things.

 

any CEL on? codes stored? driving without the MAF connected causes all sorts of problems and not a good one so have it scanned with VAG or any diagnostic you have and get it sorted asap

 

With the maf unpluged youll be running rich. The side affects will be most noticeable when you arent on the gas much, like at a stop light. The engine is having a hard time burning up all the fuel that its being flooded with so your plugs get wet, it miss's (clunk/studder), and some unburnt fuel makes its way into the cat where it may ignite and create a backfire/sputter. So it shouldnt run flawlessly better with the mafunpluggedor else there would be no need for a maf at all.I would be surprised though ifyour maf is badwithout any fault codes being stored. It might be a little dirty and causing laziness..Try cleaning your maf before you replace it.

 

Oh snap!
You're not really supposed to drive with the maf unplugged, its not really good for the engine.

You can unplug it at idle while the car is running rough, to see if a bad maf could be the cause, but yeah, driving around with it unplugged may cause a few issues like you experienced.

 

well its not that bad for him because he is 2001 and they also have a map sensor. just get a new maf and plug it back in. the map sensor cannot read all teh air that is coming in at higher rpms. so it freaks out and starts dumping loads of fuel in

 

nice, thanks for the advice!

BTW I don't have a CEL light on when the MAF is plugged in, but when I unplugged it and started her up the ABS light came on, and one other light as well (can't remember the name...but it's like the anti-slip warning light). As soon as I plugged it back in they both went back off.

I only took it for a test run with the MAF unplugged, I wouldn't ever just leave it like that...
I'll be cleaning it this week because I definitely feel like it's beginning to go bad. I think I've got a couple small vaccuum leaks as well....damn, I just want my car to be up to stock speed!

LampyB.