MAF snag?

[alfa pint]

My twinspark has just started to play up a little. I blame the wife, as she drove it yesterday.

The idle has started to hunt quite a lot over the last week and when it's cold, there's a few flat spots until it's going properly.

The behaviour yesterday is a bit more serious - it's started to stall at road junctions etc and is only really happy on the move.

I'm thinking the MAF sensor is probably at fault, but has anyone else had this one and can point me in the right direction?

[Paul S4]

You could go to the tech forum on alfa 156.net. There is a lot of technical help on there, if you use the search facility. Type in either MAF or ECU reset. Either or both may help you. The ECU reset is easy to do; ( assuming that is the problem)

[alfa pint]

Done a soft ECU set i.e. turn the ignition on and leave it for a minute before starting the engine. It's now racing slightly (1200 rpm) at idle, but generally seems a lot happier.

It's booked in for a service / MOT anyway - see what it's like with a new filter.

[waynedear]

MAF is easy to check, just unplug it, if it runs better then the MAF is faulty, dont skimp and buy a cheap ebay version if it does need changing.

[14-7]

waynedear said:

MAF is easy to check, just unplug it, if it runs better then the MAF is faulty, dont skimp and buy a cheap ebay version if it does need changing.

The MAF will make the car idle badly but it will pull better once running.

[alfa pint]

Update for anyone with similar snags. A soft ECU reset sorted out the stalling, but it still hunted occasionally.

The garage ran it through the diagnostics suite and it showed up 2 lambda faults. These were deleted from the ECU. The car is still reprogramming its ECU to run to my style again, but the hunting has stopped and there has been no repeat performance of the stalling fault. The idle is a little too high at the moment, but is settling down and only needs a slight prod of the throttle to make it drop down to a more normal 600 rpm when I'm at traffic lights etc.

So good news, and it didn't cost me £200 for a new MAF.

[14-7]

Sounds like something still isn't right though.

If it's throwing up a lambda fault then the sensors need replacing.