I'm starting this thread for people like me who immediately panic when something goes wrong with their car. I recently had problems with my car and immediately thought the world was over and my car was really messed up. I had several people look at it, but it wouldn't hold a code so they couldn't tell me. So yesterday, the day before I was going to start putting a lot of money in the car, I decided to clean the MAF Sensor because it hadn't been cleaned in a while. After I put it on and went to drive, my car ran like a dream. This thread is simply something people can go to and see what cheap things they can try before spending a lot of money.


Cleaning sensors with electrical cleaner will never hurt anything.
Fuel filters are nearly impossible to determine whether they are good or not so change that too.
Pull out the plugs and check the color. If they're white, they're fine. If they're black change them and the plug wires.
Get under the car and check the opti. Pull plugs off and check the cap.
And always try to get codes scanned if you have any.


Anyone who has anything else to add to this list is more than welcome too.


Sticky Maybe?

 

To add to that check your oil and coolant every week. Don't just look in the coolant resevior actually look in the rad. And keep gas above 1/4 tank so you don't over heat the fuel pump. Gas is its lubricant and coolant.

 

Clean the gunk and varnish off your butterfly valve...

 

No offense but there is some bad advice there. Cleaning your sensors can possibly damage it. In fact most go out because of handling incorrectly. Most cleaners are not Maf cleaner safe even when they are specifically for that. White plugs don't alwAys mean good. White plugs could also mean that the car is overheating. Sometimes when the plug is black it doesn't mean its bad just that there Is a lot of carbon build up which most of the time doesnt happen because of a bad spark plug.

 

This is all general information, not for sometimes, or on occasion it is this way. Electronic safe cleaners are safe to use on sensors and the MAF solely because they are electronic safe. Electronic safe cleaners are mostly air and dry extremely quickly to prevent from frying the wires or other electrical components. Besides, you can go to auto parts stores and find sensor plug cleaner for your vehicle. Also, plugs with carbon build up can result in a misfire anyhow. Changing the plugs is never a bad idea unless the wrong plugs are put in. I am merely suggesting cheap things you can do to your car before spending a lot of money on something that doesn't need changed. It is advice, not a rule book.