Hey all, just thought I would share my experience of cleaning my MAF Sensor yesterday. I bought my 09' F-150 S'cab, 4.6 3V, 4X4 in 2012 with 38k on it. At the first oil change I cleaned and oiled the K&N filter the truck came with and again at 60k.

I had my truck at the dealer at 71k for a Ford Racing tune on the 6R80 trans by a lifelong friend that runs the Ford Racing program there. He got the trans tuned and what a difference! After we talked about the service he told me he could hear some slight pinging in the upper rpm range that I had never noticed before. He opened my air box to see the K&N in there and just about had a fit. He told me that you should never run a oiled air filter in a vehicle with a stock NA engine that uses a MAF sensor.

As most of you know the MAF sensor is a very important sensor and can cause a host of driveability issues. I removed the K&N and installed a regular filter immediatley. I also removed all of the intake piping and MAF sensor for cleaning. I bought the CRC MAF sensor cleaner and followed the directions very carefully. You wouldn't believe the crud that came out of the sensor and piping! I reinstalled the parts and test drove the truck, there is a noticeable difference power and torque.

 

I had an older F 150 and tried a K&N with similar crappy results. Man it sure did run better after I took that filter out..

 

Thanks for the post, I've only got about 25K on mine with a paper filter so I won't bother cleaning it yet.

What did the Ford Racing tune do for the transmission?

 

Since my truck is an 09' he first updated the software on the PCM. Secondly, he connected his laptop to the ALDL and drove the truck for about 10 miles through some different driving situations. As far as I can tell its almost like having a tuner on the truck. Much firmer shifts, first gear is longer/shift is softer into second, much more easy down shift when passing. He said that this service is something that Ford doesn't sell, so on the paperwork it read .5 hr misc service. I think it was the best $75 I've spent on the truck.

 

I wouldn't mess with it unless you have a code.