88 olds idling

I have a 1988 olds cierra with a 3.8 engine.I have recently replaced the Mas Air Sensor,and now the car will not idle properly.
The idle goes up and down when the engine is cold.Once it is warmed up the throttle act fine.Does anyone have any suggestions?

 

Remove it a scrub the throttle plate on the back side and the surrounding housing with carb cleaner. When reinstalling it make sure the snorkel is air tight and all hoses are hooked up to it. Any air leak between the sensor and the throttle body will cause that. Disconnect the battery for a minute or so and restart. Keep rpm up until all the carb cleaner is burned away.

 

make sure both screens are in the 'new' sensor too, or the sensed readings will be very inaccurate.


did you replace the sensor for this problem?


there are many different sensor calibrations, grouped into one part number with some aftermarket parts. when you open the box, you could have a remanufactured unit off of just about anything, not neccessarily the same calibration you took off the car. might want to ask for another.

it's always possible to get a bad sensor too.

 

I replaced this part because the engine kept cutting off even when the engine was warm.The sensor I put in looked exactly like the one I took out.How do you check the callibration on a sensor like this. The sensor fits in the air supply to the engineand not the throttle body,so just what am I suppose to clear with carbarator cleanen? When the engine warms up and you engage the transmission the car will go from 20 to 25 miles an hour without putting your foot on the gas peddle.

 

OK, first of all what I said to clean is the back side of the throttle plate and the housing it contacts. That's your throttle body and the Mass air flow feeds into it. As far as your Mass air flow, there really is no way to check calibration. What he is referring to is how some rebuilders lump applications together so 1 part# will fit many cars when in reality they have different electronic specs.
Your symptoms really sound like there is a problem with the sensor or it is sucking air somewhere between the sensor and the engine. Are you sure you hooked up all the hoses that attach to that snorkel hose?

 

Thank you for the information.I checked the snorkel attachments and found one loose.I secured it properly and the engine started idleing like it was suppose to. Thanks again for your help.