S2 - Air Flow Sensor - can those be rebuilt? (repost)
#17
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I went over to Steve's last night to see if staring at the car while drinking a Sprite would fix it (it didn't)-and I made a couple of observations.
1) If we don't fix this fast, Steve is going to keep taking stuff apart on the car to try and fix it. Nose panel is off, console is out, all of the electronics are on the front floorboard. Leave the taillights on Steve-I don't think you'll find the solution there.
2) My son (although the love of my life) is not very good at traversing concrete stairs. Face-o Disgrace-o. He's fine-don't worry, just another learning experience.
3) When the same 16 month old is holding a pen to the quarter panel of Steve's S2, things get awfully quiet in the garage.
4) Steve's neighbor kid is now convinced that it is not a ferrari, but a porsh (note the incorrect spelling)
5) And finally, Steve's a pretty nice guy-even if he doesn't remember when you actually had to GET UP to change the channel on your TV. Damn kids.
1) If we don't fix this fast, Steve is going to keep taking stuff apart on the car to try and fix it. Nose panel is off, console is out, all of the electronics are on the front floorboard. Leave the taillights on Steve-I don't think you'll find the solution there.
2) My son (although the love of my life) is not very good at traversing concrete stairs. Face-o Disgrace-o. He's fine-don't worry, just another learning experience.
3) When the same 16 month old is holding a pen to the quarter panel of Steve's S2, things get awfully quiet in the garage.
4) Steve's neighbor kid is now convinced that it is not a ferrari, but a porsh (note the incorrect spelling)
5) And finally, Steve's a pretty nice guy-even if he doesn't remember when you actually had to GET UP to change the channel on your TV. Damn kids.
#18
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Very funny observations Ben. I apoligize that there were not any handicap spots any closer for you.
Well tonight I'm going to pop the seal on the AFM and have a look see. Thanks again to triscadek for posting that.
Well tonight I'm going to pop the seal on the AFM and have a look see. Thanks again to triscadek for posting that.
#19
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Well I popped the seal and had a look. The inside was spotless, but the circular track was worn in spots. You can see below right were the 3 tracks darken was the worst. I was able to move the 3 contact points down a little bit so they are riding on new material. That seemed to do the trick. I disconnected the battery to clear the codes. Hooked this up real quick and it started right up. It idled perfectly and didn't have a lick of trouble with working the gas pedal. I'd say it's fixed! I still won't drive it until tomorrow night so the silicone around the cover has a full 24 hours to dry. (See second pic)
#21
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wow marsmonkey
thanks for posting that
now its not so scary going to open it up...
question is, isnt there a way to get a new track? looks like a cheap piece of copper? not so simple?
thanks for posting that
now its not so scary going to open it up...
question is, isnt there a way to get a new track? looks like a cheap piece of copper? not so simple?
#22
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You'd have to replace the whole board. It's actually not nessasary. Once you move where it tracks, it's on all brand new material. Just like it was new. My car has right around 186K miles on it...so I assume the new tracks will last it another 200K.
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Hey AFM / Ignition control module people!
My S2 is doing just what all the above poster's cars did. Sounds like either my AFM has that worn-track problem, or my Ignition Control Module is acting up.
Simon--How hard was it to pry off that black plastic AFM cover, and mess with the tracking of the 3 vanes?? Did it fix your idle/stumble problems??
My S2 is doing just what all the above poster's cars did. Sounds like either my AFM has that worn-track problem, or my Ignition Control Module is acting up.
Simon--How hard was it to pry off that black plastic AFM cover, and mess with the tracking of the 3 vanes?? Did it fix your idle/stumble problems??
#25
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Actually any picture of the AFM won't clearly show what you have to do until you can see one for yourself. But I'll try to explain what I did.
There is an axle (or rod) that connects the metal door that is moved by the air. That rod goes up into the black box which has the 3 arms and track that were pictured above. The little assembly that consists of the 3 arms is movable on that rod. Also on that assembly you will see a set screw. If you loosen that it will allow you to move said assembly up and down on the shaft. And by doing that it moves the position of the little arms and will make them track on new material.
On mine i moved the assembly up (just a tiny bit). What that did is move the contact arms off of the track. So then (very carefully!) I bent the metal arms down so they rode on new tracks that were closer to the pivot point.
You can also move the assembly down on the rod to move the contact arms further out. But on mine it didn't put them far enough away from the worn tracks.
This isn't anything that can be cleaned since there are actual grooves that are worn down. I'm sure if you had a close look you might see that the grooves look like the grooves on an old record. Very bumpy, which is what is causing the problems as the arms move over the worn, rough surface it sends incorrect signals to the computer so you don't get the right amount of gas to the injectors.
My source for info was the link posted earlier.
http://frwilk.com/944dme/afm.htm
As far as the number of arms... I guess that was just one of those things that were improved over the years. It will work the same with even one arm. It's just that with more arms you can go longer I'm sure between needing to address another AFM issue.
BTW... since I've done this I haven't had a lick of trouble. And that was about two months ago. And before this nothing else was replaced. ICU, plug wires, plugs, etc. I just got the trouble code from the dash and looked it up and then started doing diagnostic testing with the AFM and then found that it was faulty.
There is an axle (or rod) that connects the metal door that is moved by the air. That rod goes up into the black box which has the 3 arms and track that were pictured above. The little assembly that consists of the 3 arms is movable on that rod. Also on that assembly you will see a set screw. If you loosen that it will allow you to move said assembly up and down on the shaft. And by doing that it moves the position of the little arms and will make them track on new material.
On mine i moved the assembly up (just a tiny bit). What that did is move the contact arms off of the track. So then (very carefully!) I bent the metal arms down so they rode on new tracks that were closer to the pivot point.
You can also move the assembly down on the rod to move the contact arms further out. But on mine it didn't put them far enough away from the worn tracks.
This isn't anything that can be cleaned since there are actual grooves that are worn down. I'm sure if you had a close look you might see that the grooves look like the grooves on an old record. Very bumpy, which is what is causing the problems as the arms move over the worn, rough surface it sends incorrect signals to the computer so you don't get the right amount of gas to the injectors.
My source for info was the link posted earlier.
http://frwilk.com/944dme/afm.htm
As far as the number of arms... I guess that was just one of those things that were improved over the years. It will work the same with even one arm. It's just that with more arms you can go longer I'm sure between needing to address another AFM issue.
BTW... since I've done this I haven't had a lick of trouble. And that was about two months ago. And before this nothing else was replaced. ICU, plug wires, plugs, etc. I just got the trouble code from the dash and looked it up and then started doing diagnostic testing with the AFM and then found that it was faulty.
#28
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I think it's like a 5 or 6 mm. Maybe even smaller.
Also for anyone else that will be doing this please read that procedure posted above. And don't touch anything else in this AFM. Just mess with the set screw and arms if needbe. Anything else and you're asking for touble. And these AFM units are not cheap.
Also for anyone else that will be doing this please read that procedure posted above. And don't touch anything else in this AFM. Just mess with the set screw and arms if needbe. Anything else and you're asking for touble. And these AFM units are not cheap.
#29
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Ah! I see! A picture is worth 1,000 words! Thanks!
Looks like you only have to move the vanes a tiny bit to get them to track off those grooves. Is it hard to re-calibrate the possition? As long as the arms are on new material, it should be OK, right?
Looks like you only have to move the vanes a tiny bit to get them to track off those grooves. Is it hard to re-calibrate the possition? As long as the arms are on new material, it should be OK, right?
#30
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Originally posted by AndyK
Ah! I see! A picture is worth 1,000 words! Thanks!
Looks like you only have to move the vanes a tiny bit to get them to track off those grooves. Is it hard to re-calibrate the possition? As long as the arms are on new material, it should be OK, right?
Ah! I see! A picture is worth 1,000 words! Thanks!
Looks like you only have to move the vanes a tiny bit to get them to track off those grooves. Is it hard to re-calibrate the possition? As long as the arms are on new material, it should be OK, right?