More and more drivers are trying to maintain their vehicles on their own. This results in significant cost savings because modern cars necessitate more and more maintenance and are made up of more and more technical components that result in new breakdowns or inconveniences. One of the problems that impacts more and more Nissan Altima owners is a clogged air flow meter, which will end in a loss of power and black exhaust fumes. In this article we are going to examine how to clean the mass air flow sensor of your Nissan Altima? . First, we will teach you how your mass airflow sensor works and its advantages, second, why it might be important to clean this sensor , and finally, how to clean the mass air flow sensor of a Nissan Altima .
Utility and operation of the mass air flow meter of a Nissan Altima
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So we start our article with the operation and purpose of your Nissan Altima flowmeter.
The intent of the mass air flow sensor on Nissan Altima
The mass air flow sensor is a component that has been created quite lately and specifically equipped on diesel models. In truth, with injection engines, the fuel and air intake has become very precise and it is therefore necessary for the ECU to know the exact volume of air loaded into the engine to change the behaviour of complementary intake parts such as the injection or the EGR valve, if you have problems with the EGR valve on your Nissan Altima, do not hesitate to seek advice from our article on this subject.
Mass air flow sensor operation on Nissan Altima
Now, we are going to have a look at how it works, before trying to clean the mass air flow sensor of your Nissan Altima , you must already find out how it functions to do this maintenance action properly.
The mass air flow sensor is therefore specifically there to collect data on the air intake of your car. To do this, it must be set up just after the air intake of your Nissan Altima, i. e. just after the air filter. It is a pipe equipped with a sensor that will analyze the air in the intake and transfer the data to the ECU of your car.
Why clean the mass air flow sensor of a Nissan Altima?
The mass air flow sensor of your Nissan Altima can have problems and this is what we will try to see and figure out what problems you might be struggling with!
Mass air flow sensor problems Nissan Altima
Here are the different problems that the air flow sensor of your Nissan Altima can bring about:
- higher fuel consumption: Because a dirty flow meter will actually end in higher fuel consumption due to poor air flow…
- Power loss: Linked to the same issue, this lack of air can bring about a loss of power to your engine.
- Difficulties starting the vehicle: Finally, one of the last traditional problems connected to a dirty flowmeter will be that your Nissan Altima will have more difficulties to start the vehicle.
How do I clean the mass air flow sensor from a Nissan Altima?
After going over the operation and concerns that the flowmeter can bring about, we will look at how to resolve these problems by showing to you how to clean the mass air flow sensor of your Nissan Altima . You should know that this operation is quite very easy to execute and you will not need advanced mechanical skills to do it yourself, a good way to avoid a trip to the mechanic and a steep bill. Discover below the different steps to stick to to execute this maintenance act:
- After having based the mass air flow sensor of your Nissan Altima , you will have to dismantle it. To do this, action delicately, but you will just have to disassemble it on both sides of the air duct and detach the electrical plug on top of it.
- Once taken apart, you will have the ability to proceed to the step cleaning the mass air flow sensor of your Nissan Altima . This sensor will, with time, get dirty and its two “filaments” that will give information to your computer on the quality and temperature of the air will no longer have the ability to collect data properly, it is in this sense that it will disturb the operation of the engine unit of your Nissan Altima. The intent of this cleaning will be to take out all its impurities to allow it to work efficiently again.
- Let soak the lower section of your mass air flow sensor (not the plug part) in acetone or another solvent for a few minutes , which will take out most of the grime
- Now we’ll proceed to the very gentle cleaning of the flow meter filaments. You have to be very careful, otherwise your mass air flow sensor will be permanently broken. With the help of a fine brush and solvent, delicately clean the two filaments of your mass air flow sensor . If you are too afraid of damaging it, you can also clean them with a brake fluid in the form of an aerosol by spraying the jet on these filaments.
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Now you know how to clean the mass air flow sensor of your Nissan Altima , you should feel a noticeable difference in the behavior of your engine unit.
If you wish more tutorials on the Nissan Altima, go to our Nissan Altima category.
