Unplugged the MAF sensor, will it cause damage

JESSYO3264

MEMBER
2006 BUICK LUCERNE
3.8L
6 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
200,000 MILES

My car was idling real rough. It would jump till like 4 RPM's still in park without me hitting the gas. I ended up taking the mass air flow sensor off, and cleaning it. I put it all back together plugged it back in, and had no changing results. Someone told me to unplug the mass airflow sensor and see if it made a difference. To my surprise it did to the point where this car had never idle better than that. So I drove it about twenty miles to my house without it plugged in. Will it cause damage to my car if I just leave it under?

1 Reply

ASEMASTER6371

MECHANIC
52,797 POSTS

Good evening.

Yes, you must either replace it, if it is bad, or find the reason why the idle is going high.

You cannot clean a mass air flow sensor. I know they sell the cleaner but carbon gets burned on the sensor wire and there is no cleaner that can break that up.

If you leave it off, the fuel mapping goes to default. It will seem to run right but you will damage the catalytic converter due to running rich.

Roy