How vital is the air flow sensor?

Hi All :)

I've been rigging up a new intake consisting of a huge K&N cone filter and some pipe...

I was wondering if the air flow sensor located in the filter box is vital to the operation of the engine? I was planning on drilling a suitable hole in my intake tube and probably siliconing it in place, but I would like to know if its absence will make my car boggy or have poor MPG?

Hehe....K&N...mmmmm

The sensor you mentioned is commonly referred to as the, “Intake Air Temperature Sensor” ( IATS). It measures the temp of the intake air. This sensor is just one of the many input parameters that the PCM depends on, in order to provide optimum engine control. If need be, you could temporally leave it hanging by the harness in the open engine compartment and you would hardly notice any difference in the operation of the engine or MPG. It would be better to have it in the intake air flow for the long term.:smokin:

Ahh...so that is what it is called.

Anyway, I'll go plug it in tonight then as it is currently sitting in my trunk with the rest of the oem intake. I doubt that it has affected my engine's performance much though....but I guess I'll just have to see :)

Without it also causes moucho cold starting problem in colder weather.

I tried to get that little bugger out this morning but it just doesn't want to budge. Would I be better off just getting a new one? Or do they generally not wear out enough to merit buying a new one?

Yeah, I broke an ari filter box once trying to urgically extract one that had bee in there since it rolled off the line, nothing like walking around a junkyard, hearing "FORE!" as a wrench, sensor and chunk of plastic go airborne. :lol2: