Tried to clean air intake sensor, now car won't start.

[drdu]

Tried to clean air intake sensor to my 2000 RX 300 with carb cleaner solution and Q tip. Thought the sensor was giving a false reading of too lean of fuel mixture. Another poster says too much air is the cause. At any rate, the car runs for 5 seconds and dies out. I don't see anything disconnected from the air intake manifold and the filter has been changed. What gives?

[leasaunce]

did you put the MAF sensor back properly??? how much did you put in??

[drdu]

Never took it off. Just lifted the airfilter box and took a Qtip with carb cleaning solution to swipe underneath. Qtip was black as can be. I didn't notice any hoses that were loose but I did disconnect the wire harness plug to the sensor. Could that have triggered something in the computer?

[Silver-Bolt]

Any time you work around the MAF sensor disconnect the negative battery terminal. Check your MAG connection. If all your connections are good try this. Disconnect the neg battery terminal, step on the brake pedal 3-4 times to drain any residual voltage in the system. Reconnect the battery and restart the car. How dod you know you have a lean condition? Did it throw a code?

[drdu]

Yes it through a code saying the fuel mixture was too lean. If the mixture was too lean, could it be a possible hose crack allowing air inside a line? I would disconnect the EFI fuse to reset the engine off but after driving around a hour or so the light comes back on.

[Xevuhtess77]

check the connections on your maf.

if you've ever tried to start a car without plugging in the maf before, it does exactly that. starts right up then just dies right after.

[Underwhere]

Your maf doesn't read lean or rich.

It reads the volume of incoming air.

Anyway, I would double check your connections. It sounds as if the MAF is not connected.

The ECU does not ever store in memory that the MAF was disconnected. So no need to disconnect the neg terminal and stomp the brakes.

The MAF is basically a heated wire. You don't need to worry about static electricity or anything.