Are there any good aftermarket MAF sensors?

S

SunnynHollister

Joined
Nov 26, 2020
Messages
15
I've got a 2001 Ford Ranger with the 4.0L. Apparently Ford no longer makes a replacement MAF sensor for this application. Are there any good replacements out there? I see NTK, Delphi, Cardone, to name a few on RA. RA also has a very expensive replacement from WVE which I've never heard of. Advanced Auto offers their Carquest brand.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Reggie
 
When my Buick Regal 3.8L series 2 or three from what I remember engine MAF stopped working, I just unplugged it until I ordered one from the auto store which was generic aftermarket and it worked absolutely fine for the application... On a 20 year old vehicle I would not worry too much about an aftermarket mass airflow. There's always the possibility of having issues with aftermarket but I never did on old vehicles. Something newer, I would stick with OEM though..... my 2 cents.
 
It depends on the car. I've had nothing but bad luck with aftermarket cheaper MAFs. Now i only go OEM or figure out who makes the OEM part. In my case it was a Bosch. Worth the money imo.
 
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Falcon_LS said:
Can you get a Hitachi for your application? Hitachi was OE on quite a few Ford vehicles, including yours.

If not, I would go with WVE which is owned by NGK and makes very decent products.
Click to expand...
It does not look like Hitachi makes one for this application.

Thanks,

Reggie
 
I had a strange, apparently coincidental MAF CEL on my 2.3 Ranger after replacing the head. I swapped in a cheap aftermarket MAF and it was no good. Eventually I ended up getting one from a pick n pull junkyard and it works great. It's probably the same MAF that your Ranger uses. (EDIT - It's not)

I've had more issues with going cheap on electrical bits on that truck than any other vehicle I've owned. Probably because it's so junky that I try to cut corners more than I do on my other cars...
 
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Aftermarket a crap shoot. Do homework.
Took 2 till I got one that worked for a German ca
 
Barkleymut said:
how does a maf sensor go bad? Just curious
Click to expand...
Bosch hot wire type (not necessarily made by Bosch) are self cleaning, the constant heating of wire in normal operation and super heating the wire for 1 second after shutdown at some point causes a failure like a light bulb filament, multiple short trip cars can be expected to have more pretmature failures but they still last many years.
Hot film types are not self cleaning and less prone to this type of failure but do get dirtier and tend to loose their peak performance sooner, the best way to keep a MAF clean is use a high quality air filter and a properly sealed filter box and intake system.

Some sensors also contain a IAT sensor in the same unit which can also fail for use, both the MAF and IAT sensor can be damaged by improper cleaning by damaging the film on the sensor. I have come to the conclusion that if its working normally leaving it alone is probably the best bet.
 
Trav said:
Some sensors also contain a IAT sensor in the same unit which can also fail for use, both the MAF and IAT sensor can be damaged by improper cleaning by damaging the film on the sensor. I have come to the conclusion that if its working normally leaving it alone is probably the best bet.
Click to expand...

Which is exactly the case with this MAF sensor that has a built in IAT sensor. The best way to keep it clean is to use a decent filter and change it often, you do not mess around with MAF cleaner on this one. I've seen way too many issues after cleaning.
 
I agree with others.. SMP (standard motor products) would be a reliable aftermarket choice. I've used some of their sensors, parts and have been very happy with them on my civic.. I have their regular line of fuel injectors, map sensor, and intake air temp sensor, nothing has gone wrong with any of them. Working very well! Just in case you were wondering about the quality. Oh and stay away from their T-series line, that's the cheap "value" line.
 
Trav said:
Bosch hot wire type (not necessarily made by Bosch) are self cleaning, the constant heating of wire in normal operation and super heating the wire for 1 second after shutdown at some point causes a failure like a light bulb filament, multiple short trip cars can be expected to have more pretmature failures but they still last many years.
Hot film types are not self cleaning and less prone to this type of failure but do get dirtier and tend to loose their peak performance sooner, the best way to keep a MAF clean is use a high quality air filter and a properly sealed filter box and intake system.

Some sensors also contain a IAT sensor in the same unit which can also fail for use, both the MAF and IAT sensor can be damaged by improper cleaning by damaging the film on the sensor. I have come to the conclusion that if its working normally leaving it alone is probably the best bet.
Click to expand...
May I add, it only self cleans itself when you actually step on the throttle hard to full throttle.
 
Luftmasse said:
May I add, it only self cleans itself when you actually step on the throttle hard to full throttle.
Click to expand...
Can you show some info on that. AFAIK this is correct.
Bosch hot wire units have a self-cleaning cycle where the platinum wire is heated to 1000 degrees C. for one second after the engine is shut down. The momentary surge in current is controlled by the onboard computer through a relay to burn off contaminants that might otherwise foul the wire and interfere with the sensor's ability to read incoming air mass accurately.
Click to expand...
 
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