Im new to the mass air flow sensor issues. I have a 2012 shawd that has a small hood scoop inducting air straight to the air intake box. reading I have noticed that this year had a stock cold air intake. I am needing to replace the mass air flow sensor and was going to replace with a aftermarket one. im going to guess that the mass air flow sensors for this car are cold air tuned? any input or insight would be helpful.

 

no need to really replace the MAF, swap it over to your new CAI.

 

90% of the parts I've purchased for my TL have been aftermarket. But not sensors. I don't trust aftermarket sensors for these cars. Honda's and Acura's seem to be finicky when using other sensors and spark plugs that aren't explicitly approved as replacements by Honda. Usually the sensors such as O2, Fuel/Air ratio, crankshaft position, knock, mass air flow, etc. are made by Denso or NGK. The one exception are the downstream O2 sensors. All they do is monitor the exhaust to assure the catalytic converters are operating properly. There's no data they produce that affects the engine in any way. I purchased a cheapo $12 sensor when the downstream O2 went bad on the front bank. But other than that specific sensor, I go OEM all the way.

 

so does it matter how close the maf is to the throttle body? I do all my of fab so I want to make sure its not to close or too far away. is there any diff on where it is placed?

 

I couldn't say for sure. But since it's just measuring air flow, I'd think you'd want it to be in an area that's about the same diameter as the stock intake tubing. Air flow would be slower in an area with a larger diameter which might throw things off.

 

ok so next question...... since I am dumping air right threw the hood Is that the reason im getting a running lean error? does it think there is an air leak since more air is pushing through? and is this something I need to have tuned?

 

If the hole/housing for the MAF isn't the right size, it'll throw a lot of errors and causes issues. Comptech had a similar issue with the icebox and folks needed to use K-tuner to fix the MAF signal.