Hey gang,

Another noobie here at least to this board. I have a 1990 300ZX and just traded in my Maxima for a 2004 G35. As with any new car, I've gotten bit by the mod bug.

Anyway, onto my question...I just installed the JWT Pop Charger and after celebrating my first mod and taking it along for a couple of errands, she stalls out and dies at the side of the road. I noticed that after I had floored it to check out the new sound of my intake, that's when it started sputtering and finally died out. I tried several times to get it started, but I ended up parking it. To get it home I fiddled with the MAF and even unhooked it, that's when if finally started.

I just checked all the connections and everything seems tightened down and installed properly. I was thinking that maybe an ECU reset would do it some good so I just unhooked the battery and I'm about to hook it back up to see if that might have done it some good. I found the procedure on how to properly reset the ECU from my instructions of the plenum spacer that's next on my list but have yet to try that.

Any ideas guys/gals? I tried doing a search, but didn't find anything that I found helpful. I've installed intakes on both my 300ZX and my Maxima and the only probs I've ever had was on the Injen intake on my Maxima. All I did to fix that was reset the ECU and tightened a loose hose connection.

If you all could help me with this little problem, it would really be appreciated.

 

First of all . . . Welcome to the 'Driver boards, T-Hoe.


Yes, try an ECU reset. Then, besure to recheck both of the connections at the intake tube between the MAF a Throttle Body. Oh and be sure that the emissions hose was reattached to the intake tube, as well. Good luck!

 

Thanks for responding so quick...well I just successfully did a ECU reset and still no luck.

The only thing I installed today was the Pop Charger. My Z-Tube was back ordered so I didn't mess with any of the hoses that connected to the intake tube.

Any other ideas?

Luckily I have the Z to drive while I figure this out.

If it comes down to it, hopefully it won't, but will it hurt if I drove the G35 to my mechanic with the MAF disconnected? It's about a 20 min drive from where I live.

 

Hmmmm . . . I'm curious . . . Did you attempt to start the car prior to reconnecting the MAF?

 

No...but I did lightly oil the filter with K&N before I took off on my errands. I immediately took off and drove and didn't let the oil have a chance to set. Sh*t, do you think I fouled out my MAF? Since I lightly oiled it, I didn't think it would hurt.

I checked the MAF and didn't notice any oil on the sensor itself. I've never tried cleaning a MAF. What's the proper way to do this if in fact I have to do this?

I might also try cleaning the filter and properly oiling it tonight.

 

I think you can buy MAF sensor cleaner at auto-parts stores. I very lightly oil my JWT pop charger and I haven't had a problem. I will say that after I installed mine, my engine did cut out once or twice when I was testing it out in the garage. I started it up and just held a -tiny- bit of gas in to keep it from stalling out, and I did that for about 15 seconds, and when I let the gas back out, it was fine. No problems since. It's almost like the sudden reduction in restriction confuses the engine and causes it to not idle properly. It might just take a few seconds of running for it to remap a little bit.

 

When you install the brand new Popcharger filter, it is already pre-oiled. You do not need to oil it. You only need to re-oil it after you've cleaned it. Chances are that the extra oil did not have time to seep into the filter and therefore caused random air blockage or it's slowly making its way to your MAF sensor. Maybe let the Popcharger filter sit for a while and try restarting it. Or worst case, clean it and lightly re-oil it, and at the same time clean your MAF sensor. I think there's a sticky in the DIY Section of the forum about cleaning the MAF sensor. And if you do decide to clean your filter, make sure you only "lightly" oil it, and let it sit for a few hours before re-installing it.

 

Same thing happened to me twice. Had to tow it to a dealership, only to find out it started on it's own after a couple of hours. They couldn't find anything wrong with it. Only mod i had was the JWT/Z tube

My only guess from reading other post, is to make sure the AC line is not touching any part of the metal bracket holding the pop charger. Here's what I mean. Hope this helps. I haven't had a problem since my last incident which was 20,000 miles ago.

 

cool...thanks guys. I'll try that tomorrow morning.

One question...why would the ac line touching the MAF sensor housing have anything to do with it cutting out? Is it because the metal to metal contact cause the sensor to give false readings? Is that the contact you are referring to?

 

Update...

Well, this morning I went out and bought some of the CRC MAF Cleaning Spray and cleaned the MAF. I also cleaned the filter last night and lightly oiled the filter.

STILL NO LUCK! I have no clue what's going on with this thing. When I try starting the engine, it runs then immediately starts sputtering and dies. This also happens when I try giving it a little gas. When I start the car with the MAF plug disconnected, it runs no problem other than the check engine light and the VDC light coming on. When I give it gas in this condition, it revs but also knocks a little because of the absence of the MAF sensor being plugged in.

When I was having problems with my old Maxima after installing an Injen CAI, I had the same problem and it didn't correct until after a day or two. But the car at least was able to idle.

I was thinking of starting up the car without the MAF plugged in to get it to idle, then plugging in the MAF and have it run for a couple of minutes to see if the ECU can readjust the air mapping.

One other thing, when I do get it to run without the MAF, the exhaust was emitting additional fumes which I guess is from the engine running lean.

Any other ideas I can try???

 

OOoooo....I don't think you should have started the car with the MAF disconnected. Correct me if I am wrong, now you need someone to clear that error for you cuz you can't do it yourself like with a ECU reset.

 

The reason why the other members ask you to clean the MAF is because you probably add too MUCH oil onto the new filter element. Now that you cleaned the MAF and re-oiled the filter element, you actually haven't done anything positive...

To make it short, just try to let the filter element dry up a bit and then clean your MAF again... remember don't add anymore oil since it is very easy to have too much oil on the filter, which can potentially ruin the accuracy of the MAF.

On the other hand, check all your connections making sure that your don't have any leak.

 

Another update...

Well, I guess I put the stock airbox in and plan on taking the car to the dealer since it's still under warranty.

Even with the stock airbox back in, it's still not running properly. It's got to be the MAF but I can't see how that got screwed up! I was really careful with it. Anyway, I guess I can work on my other mods until this Friday when I can bring it in to the shop.

If you all can think of anything else I can try, please let me know.

When I said I re-oiled the filter, I actually cleaned and rinsed the filter before oiling it again...and it was lightly oiled. It's the same procedure I use on my 300ZX with the pop charger and I've never had this issue before.

 

Did you remove the MAF? I remember someone saying that it's possible to put the MAF in backwards.

 

When I installed the pop charger, I never removed the MAF from the housing itself. I did take it out this last time to clean it, however.

The thing that confuses me is that after I got it installed, it ran fine when I was doing my errands. Only when I was coming home and floored it was when the car died. In order to get it home, I only unplugged the MAF to get it back home which was only a block away...

So, it's possible to get the MAF back in backwards? Well, I'm pretty sure I got it back in right, but I can try it flipping it and seeing if that makes a difference.

Thanks again for everyone's help in trying to figure this out. Hopefully, I can figure it out before I have to take it back to the dealership.