Rebuild help. Electrical gremlins.

[MPS3Wezz]

Hi all. My name is Wesley. Hailing from Cape Town, South Africa.

I've adopted a bit of a mess. I'll keep the story short for context.

Car was purchased new by a buddy, tuned heavily.Sold to another buddy. Engine eventually blew. User error. 31k miles 50k kms. Car is still fresh and has that new smell, hence the labour to get it running. I am the new owner.

Car was stripped by 1 and tossed around till i eventually got involved. Lots of parts went missing along the way and some damaged. MAF,ECU missing and damaged to engine harness. Valve cover plugs ripped apart. Among other things. For this story that's the relevant parts.

Engine was fully rebuilt and I think they got stuck realising the parts were missing. I got the car and sourced the parts. Complete engine harness and ECU from the same car. Intercooler with BOV,battery box and MAF. Made up a 3inch inlet with filter.

Installed everything and had the immo reprogrammed. Car fired up, but dies immediately. Like an anti theft symptom. Unplugged the MAF and it runs all day long(obvz not perfect) the MAF is from a Gen1.

1. Are the MAFs interchangeable? Gen1-Gen2?
2. Would i need a tune to compensate for the 3inch pipe?
3. Could this issue(if indeed that) be resolved using the Versatune SW?

I have no error codes with the MAF plugged in. And only MAF related codes when I unplug it.

I've gone through all the basics for electrics, fuses, earth points and swapped out the overrun pulley on the alt.

[mituc]

If you have a 3" intake then you need to have a tune with the right MAF calibration, otherwise the symptoms are exactly what you're experiencing. It's not a MAF problem, seems like a calibration problem.

[MPS3Wezz]

If you have a 3" intake then you need to have a tune with the right MAF calibration, otherwise the symptoms are exactly what you're experiencing. It's not a MAF problem, seems like a calibration problem.

Ok cool. Thx for the reply and putting me out of my agony. I will check the site for a tune that would suit me, otherwise i would have to learn to do the calibration manually.

[CrazyCanadian]

If you have a 3" intake then you need to have a tune with the right MAF calibration, otherwise the symptoms are exactly what you're experiencing. It's not a MAF problem, seems like a calibration problem.

Ok cool. Thx for the reply and putting me out of my agony. I will check the site for a tune that would suit me, otherwise i would have to learn to do the calibration manually.

If the ECU, wiring harness, Maf are all matched from the same GEN 1 car, then you have no reason to worry about any gen 1 to gen 2 differences.

When you talk about getting parts, did you get the stock MAF housing? Or did you build your own intake and MAF housing? You can have a bigger pipe and filter going off the stock MAF housing, or change the turbo inlet pipe up to the stock MAF housing. This will still need some calibration, but it wont be the same as running a 3" MAF housing. Also if you built your own intake/MAF housing, you can use one of the calibrations you'll find listed around here as a base line, but it'll still need to be tweaked and adjusted for your setup.

[MPS3Wezz]

If you have a 3" intake then you need to have a tune with the right MAF calibration, otherwise the symptoms are exactly what you're experiencing. It's not a MAF problem, seems like a calibration problem.

Ok cool. Thx for the reply and putting me out of my agony. I will check the site for a tune that would suit me, otherwise i would have to learn to do the calibration manually.

If the ECU, wiring harness, Maf are all matched from the same GEN 1 car, then you have no reason to worry about any gen 1 to gen 2 differences.

When you talk about getting parts, did you get the stock MAF housing? Or did you build your own intake and MAF housing? You can have a bigger pipe and filter going off the stock MAF housing, or change the turbo inlet pipe up to the stock MAF housing. This will still need some calibration, but it wont be the same as running a 3" MAF housing. Also if you built your own intake/MAF housing, you can use one of the calibrations you'll find listed around here as a base line, but it'll still need to be tweaked and adjusted for your setup.

Sorry for the delayed response. Appreciate all the feedback and questions.

So i managed to get this sorted out. You can flame for it as it was probably a rookie mistake in my haste to get parts fitted and getting the car running. Excitement overload.

Seems when i built the intake i assembled it in the wrong direction so my MAF was facing the wrong way Turned it around and she fired right up and idled with the Gen1 MAF. Not a clean idle but she idles as to close to normal as she should for the mods and no calibration. I had the stock airbox with a pan filter but no link pipe. I cut the MAF housing up and used on the 3in intake to mount the MAF. Was the quickest solution at the time. Ordering something will take months here.

I knew something was off when the car idled while gently blowing on the MAF. Took note of some internet pictures and the plug facing a certain way just triggered something. Well here we are. So now I'm going to look for a calibration file that should bring me closer and help me learn how to fine tune it.

I have since done the EGR delete and remade the intake pipe to put the filter in the usual place rather than behind the battery box that moved a bit forward to keep it closer to cooler air. The sound was beautiful so i would like to revisit that again. All unnecessary plumbing and a BOV(no divert) was fitted. Next will be EVAP delete. Decat is done with 3in system. Still twin exit. Neighbours are loving me in my complex

I have been playing with the flash tunes and found something im happy with for now. Next steps is full Versa package to do a fuill custom tune on the dyno/road. For now, driving to work is intense

[CrazyCanadian]

Can you post pictures of the intake and MAF housing? It sounds like you've got a stock housing on a bigger filter/turbo inlet pipe..

[MPS3Wezz]

3in pipe is one diameter from the filter to the reducer at the turbo. Just cut the MAF mount section out of the stock airbox. Made a hole in the 3in pipe and fitted the Plastic bit for the MAF to mount to on the pipe. Will take a pic to post.

[CrazyCanadian]

Have you built in some sort of air "straightner" or MAF screen to smooth out turbulent air across the MAF sensor?

This would have been built into the stock maf housing. It's also designed into any good aftermarket MAF housing. It's needed in order to get a consistent reading from the MAF. Without it you'll have a horrible time trying to tune the MAF curve.

[MPS3Wezz]

Have you built in some sort of air "straightner" or MAF screen to smooth out turbulent air across the MAF sensor?

This would have been built into the stock maf housing. It's also designed into any good aftermarket MAF housing. It's needed in order to get a consistent reading from the MAF. Without it you'll have a horrible time trying to tune the MAF curve.

Thx For this. I have not considered that at all. I will check the stock setup and how its done on other aftermarket pipes. I will say that i purposefully mounted the MAF with the longest straight sections before and after the sensor itself.