KLUTZ

Hi all. First official question here and I'm sure I'll get an answer. I have an '87 Vette which I picked up a couple weeks ago as a project. Off the road for 14 years in dry storage after the owner passed on. I've changed oil, coolant and done the basic hose check and all. I have also changed plugs and wires to AC Delco even though the car started with the old set. As mentioned, I got the car running and it sounds strong but that is without the MAF and intake vent hooked up. I don't have a correct intake vent yet so I fabricated one from cardboard for the time being. Without these on, the car runs, when I put these on the car will only run for a couple seconds. Even with the MAF unplugged it only goes a couple seconds unless I work the throttle. I unhooked the battery to see if it would clear the computer but no different. What should I be looking for here? The intake filter is a K&N but even bypassing that, same result. New to this game as I'm an MGB guy.

Thanks

Paul

JordanSmith

Really strange: my87 stops running as soon as the MAF is removed
Me thinks the car should Not run at all without MAF
Wonder if some kind on mod done?

96GS#007

intake vent?

If I were to guess, I'd say the cardboard intake bellows is collapsing when the engine starts, effectively choking it of airflow and killing it.

loaded vet

I have an 87 also. If your MAF is bad, you should be able to unplug it at the sensor and it should start and allow you to run it in for replacement. When my MAF went bad, it was all I could do to keep it running in order to get it home. The manual says to unplug the MAF and it should start and run in bypass mode, it did. I replaced the MAF and both relays and have no problems since. Hope this helps.

Gary

Cliff Harris

My car will die instantly if the MAF is removed while the engine is running. The ECM thinks that air flow has gone to zero and shuts off the injectors.

My car will start and run just fine with the MAF disconnected. If the ECM detects that the MAF is not there it uses a default value for air flow and relies on the TPS value to calculate injector pulse width.

KLUTZ

Thanks for the replies. No, the makeshift cardboard intake I am using doesn't collapse, it is quite firm, and the MAF is a new remanufactured AC Delco so it isn't ready for replacement. Cliff's post makes a lot of sense. I am done work for the week so I can spend some more quality time with it. Now I have to figure out how to get the passenger side valve cover off to replace the gaskets so I can run the engine without oil dripping and smoking me out. Then I can focus on the intake issue.