My 94 splash was running terribly (surging, low idle, stalling) ,so I changed the plugs and wires (they were black and terrible), and that improved a few things. then I got brave and cleaned my MAF (with the correct cleaner), and reassembled everything. It now is far worse. When I reassembled everything, I saw that there was a ton of loose things-the air filter box wasn't all the way closed, and the intake hose was not tightened on either. Those are all tight now, and Yes, I let the MAF dry for 3 hours before starting. Now, if I hit the gas, it bogs and wants to die under load. I made it to work today, which is amazing seeing as how I was pretty sure I was going to need to call for a ride home instead. I'm not sure how many cycles it will take for the computer to reset or if there is a way to force that. AT lunch, I'm going to go and see if disconnecting the MAF helps-BTW, if it does, can I drive it home (5 miles) like that? NAPA has a new MAF waiting for me, is that going to help at all?

 

Yes, it reads like MAF sensor is bad, cleaning it just made it worse.

Yes, unplug MAF and drive it home, doesn't hurt anything and confirm CEL(check engine light) comes on, it should with no MAF data coming in to computer

Computer "knows" its running a 4 LITER engine, so "knows" how much air is coming in at any given RPM and throttle position, so it can calculate basic air:fuel ratios without MAF

MAF's main purpose is to tell computer the WEIGHT of the air thats coming in
Air:fuel mix is a WEIGHT ratio, for gasoline its 14.7:1 ratio
14.7 POUNDS of air to 1 POUND of gasoline
14.7 grams of air to 1 gram of gasoline
WEIGHT RATIO

So as elevation changes air is thinner, weighs less
hot air weighs less than cold air, i.e. "Hot air Rises" because its lighter than colder air
So MAF sensor is a very important part to get correct air:fuel mix, and if its off then you get too rich or too lean a mix for outside environment

MAF uses a heated wire for this, it only samples about 10% of the incoming air, the air flowing past the wire cools it, the amount of cooling tells computer the WEIGHT of the air passing by the heated wire

With key on engine off, unplug MAF sensor's 4 wire connector and test the Red wire at the MAF, should have battery voltage, 12v, thats the heater power, then test Black wire with Red wire, black wire is the Ground for the heater, so should be same voltage when testing Red wire to battery negative or other Ground.
If heater doesn't get full power then data will be wrong

 

Thanks, Ron, I unplugged the sensor, and it didn't make a very big difference. Once I put the new one on, do I need to disconnect the negative terminal and leave it off to reset the computer?

 

You should disconnect battery when working on anything electrical just as a safety procedure, you can reverse connections and damage computer or other parts.

So yes unhook either battery cable.

 

so I unplugged the MAF sensor, and it's horrible. I'm going to have to wait to get out of my parking garage, it's too dangerous to try to get it down like this. The brakes are crazy right now too.

 

Did you unhook the battery first?
I would do that

Indianapolis is only about 500ft elevation and its about 80deg there today, so engine may run slightly rich, but shouldn't run "horrible", with no MAF
If engine is stumbling then there is no Vacuum for power brakes, or power brake booster is the problem, it's leaking Vacuum making engine run poorly
You can pull off the power brake boosters hose and plug it, see if engine runs better, if so then booster is leaking vacuum, which is causing your problems, not MAF sensor

 

I didn't unhook the battery at all yet. Regrettably, I was at work with no tools at all. is the power brake booster that huge can on the firewall directly behind the master cylinder? I'm guessing there are vacuum lines in/out of it? it was idling badly, but ok, but when I was trying to back out of my parking space, it was bucking when the brake was applied. I ended up leaving it there and I'll have to look at it tomorrow.

 

Yes, behind Master, it only has the one big vacuum hose connected

 

Yeah, as it turns out it was a completely different problem than I thought. I got my truck down from the 5th floor of the parking garage, and took a good look at it and realize the whole driver side Bank was missing its spark plug wires, somehow they managedvto unplug. I plugged everything back in, it ran terrible, but I got the truck home. I started it up and it still sounds like I'm missing timing. Do you think I should pull the plugs, I try to clean them, I haven't had a chance to as I had a lot of stuff at work, and a job interview on Monday? I'm not sure if that's going to make any difference, but apparently I drove about 10 miles with only half of the V6 working

 

Check spark plug wiring for correct firing order

On the coil pack
3 4
2 6
1 5
front

The 5 6 4 side often gets mis-wired
Check it twice and then a 3rd time
Follow each wire to its cylinder on drivers side

Ford V6 cylinder numbers are
3 6
2 5
1 4
front

So NOT the same as coil pack wiring for drivers side