Hey guys, Now that my Cobra's gone past 100k miles, it was giving me some hard starting issues when the weather is cold.. I also have some very minor shuddering during idle and power train clattering at part throttle which I had blamed on the car just being old. Well I had free time over the weekend and pulled the IAC valve and MAF for some good cleaning and the result was an almost new feeling engine.
The idle is now butter smooooth, part throttle clattering at 3000-4000 rpm is totally gone (really unexpected!), and the car starts up easily on the first crank.
All in all, it took me about 20mins, including pulling my right front wheel off (I have a JLT cold air intake. It was hard to believe such a quick job could make a drastic difference. I wished I had done this earlier, and I'll probably do this at least every 30k miles from now on.
Some tips:
1. The IAC is located above the intake near the firewall, its 2 screws and a connector.
2. The MAF cleaner was not aggressive enough to clean the crud off the IAC. I had to use carb cleaner and manually move the poppet valve a little to loosen the crud. I used a small allen key, but anything thin and bent will work. push the valve away from the spring.
3. putting some tape over the port holes leaving a small gap to spray into it. Then let it sit (with the solenoid side pointing up) to let it work.
4. Don't forget to re-connect the connector! Yup that was me.
5. The Electrical portion of the MAF uses security torx screws, I had a set of the torx tool from previous projects. Undo the 2 security torx screws and pull the unit straight out. I left it connected to the connector because it was a bitch to undo.
6. Spray the hell out of the sensor portion of the MAF and don't touch it.
7. Wear Eye protection. I had my head in the wheel well and luckily I had my glasses on, because that MAF spray comes out strong and I would have gotten an eyefull of that solvent.
good luck
The idle is now butter smooooth, part throttle clattering at 3000-4000 rpm is totally gone (really unexpected!), and the car starts up easily on the first crank.
All in all, it took me about 20mins, including pulling my right front wheel off (I have a JLT cold air intake. It was hard to believe such a quick job could make a drastic difference. I wished I had done this earlier, and I'll probably do this at least every 30k miles from now on.
Some tips:
1. The IAC is located above the intake near the firewall, its 2 screws and a connector.
2. The MAF cleaner was not aggressive enough to clean the crud off the IAC. I had to use carb cleaner and manually move the poppet valve a little to loosen the crud. I used a small allen key, but anything thin and bent will work. push the valve away from the spring.
3. putting some tape over the port holes leaving a small gap to spray into it. Then let it sit (with the solenoid side pointing up) to let it work.
4. Don't forget to re-connect the connector! Yup that was me.
5. The Electrical portion of the MAF uses security torx screws, I had a set of the torx tool from previous projects. Undo the 2 security torx screws and pull the unit straight out. I left it connected to the connector because it was a bitch to undo.
6. Spray the hell out of the sensor portion of the MAF and don't touch it.
7. Wear Eye protection. I had my head in the wheel well and luckily I had my glasses on, because that MAF spray comes out strong and I would have gotten an eyefull of that solvent.
good luck
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