Air Mass meter question

[skymaster]

Hi

I was wondering about the Air mass meter on my TDI 130 A4. I have heard these very often go wrong and when they do can affect power, emmisions and MPG. I am curious as to weather they wear out gradually and become less effective or do they just work perfectly one minute then die the next?

My golf had a faulty one (as I was told by the dealer) and they replaced it under warranty. It made a slight difference to the performance of the car (it was a V5) but I had no idea it was faulty in the first place.

How would I know if I had a fautly one on the A4? Or does anyone change them as a matter of course?

[onzarob]

Yes they do go down hill slowly, due to cotaniments sticking to the sensor, some people have clean them by spring carb cleaner in and letting it soak. Might be worth doing.

You'll will know if its gone completely as the power will be well down and it won't rev past 3000 rpm. if you unplug it it will run smoother but be noticiably down on power.

You can read the ECU and you might get an impluasable signal, if you disconnect if it will log an open circuit. If you plug it back in it will start oeprating but you'll still have a fault logged.

Hope that helps

Rob:D

[skymaster]

I see

Yes, I had heard that the sensor was very sensivite. So if I wanted to maximise power and MPG on my 2003 A4 I could do well to change it perhaps? Anyone know how much a genuine one costs?

Even if it makes as good as no difference it wont hurt to have a spare in the boot in case the working ones totally fails.