Is the mass air flow sensor dead?

Mass Air Flow Sensor Problem: Installed a Spectre Cold Air Intake System?

• I installed a Spectre Cold Air Intake System on my 2003 5.4L V8 Ford F-150 about a week ago..Well yesterday my truck started to act up. The "Service Engine Soon" light came on, which has never been on. I don't get it, its been fine all week with the Cold Air Intake on and now all of a sudden it just runs poorly..fine on the highway and when idling just when your in town and starting from a dead stop but then later on it'll act up. I know it has something to do with this Cold Air Intake System. I took it to Napa and had them do the computer test and it came up with the problem "Mass Air Flow Sensor". The symptoms of my truck have been at a dead stop when you hit the gas to go it'll die down a little and then just take off. When your going about 30-40 mph it'll kind of go in and out and then on the highway its fine until you hit the brake to get off cruise control it lunges just a little like its down shifting. It also has a little more water than usual out the exhaust and this black stuff around the pipe and it smells really bad, so I though it might be bad gas but that's not the case. I really think its this Cold Air Intake, but what do I do, I don't want to take this thing off and put my stock one back on but I don't want to be hurting my truck. Please Help..Thank You so much to all who answer!

• Answer:

  This might not solve your problem, fuel injection systems can be very complicated. But the first thing is to make sure you have no air leaks around that new cold air intake. A mass air system is a closed system and they don't respond well if you have air intake leaks. If your sure there are no leaks then clean the mass air sensor, maybe the conversion you did allowed it to get dirty, and that will keep it from running right as well. Or maybe it's just time to clean one on a 2003 model. You can get mass air sensor cleaner at any parts store. Finally, make sure the plug to the mass air sensor is firmly in place and not even a bit lose. If all that fails just put the stock air intake parts back on, the same ones you took off. If the problem goes away then you know it's the new cold air system, if it doesn't you know to look for something else. Something that maybe went bad about the same time you switched parts. The mass air meter itself could have gone bad. Good Luck!!