Edmunds dealer partner, Bayway Leasing, is now offering transparent lease deals via these forums. Click here to see the latest vehicles!
Options
Mass Air Flow Sensor
I'll try to make this short and to the point, but I make no promises. Here goes…I took my Sentra into my local Nissan dealership to have the oil changed in January. There was nothing remarkable about it; just a routine oil change. That was the first time I've visited this dealership as I had just moved from a different state. In late March I was driving down the Interstate when the car suddenly stalled. I was going 65-ish mph with no cruise control and I pushed on the gas pedal to keep up with traffic…but instead of accelerating the engine revved and the RPMs shot up. I tried it again but the same thing happened. The car was slowing down and there was nothing I could do about it. I was in the far left lane so I had to hurriedly merge my way over to the right shoulder (no left shoulder, only a cement barrier). I made it to the shoulder just in time for the car to roll to a stop. I put it in park and shut the engine off. When I tried to turn the key over, it would start for less than a second and then the engine would die.
Since I was two hours away from home, I had it towed to the nearest Nissan dealership in the city I was in. Fast forward to the next day, I received a call from Nissan dealership #2 and the first question out of his mouth was "Who does your oil change?" When I told him it was another Nissan dealership he sounded genuinely surprised and proceeded to tell me that the mass air flow sensor needed to be replaced because whoever performed my last oil change didn't secure some part of the air filter which allowed debris in. I had no choice but to pay the $508 to have it fixed. When I went to pick up my car, Bob was very nice and gave a more in-depth explanation of what happened. He even gave me the ruined mass air flow sensor.
When I contacted Nissan dealership #1, this was their response: "When you came in on January 17, 2015 it was the first time we had seen the vehicle, while we did perform an oil change and inspection the vehicle was driven for over 3,000 miles before the incident occurred. If you are familiar with that system it would be almost impossible to go over 100 miles before the check engine light would have came on to alert that there was a problem with the air regulatory system in the car. The Mass Air Flow sensor is in place to make sure the vehicle can achieve perfect fuel to air ratio, with an "unsecured" air box there would have been excessive amount of air would cause the air to fuel ratio to be out of range causing a check engine light on or running issues."
My question is - who do I believe? Is it possible that the air box or air filter was secured enough to keep the check engine light from coming on but unsecured enough to let tiny-sized debris in? If it was unsecured enough to let the tiny-sized debris in, couldn't it potentially take more than 3,000 miles for the debris to accumulate enough to damage the mass air flow sensor?
I want Nissan dealership #1 to take responsibility but only if it was their fault. Any advice or ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Since I was two hours away from home, I had it towed to the nearest Nissan dealership in the city I was in. Fast forward to the next day, I received a call from Nissan dealership #2 and the first question out of his mouth was "Who does your oil change?" When I told him it was another Nissan dealership he sounded genuinely surprised and proceeded to tell me that the mass air flow sensor needed to be replaced because whoever performed my last oil change didn't secure some part of the air filter which allowed debris in. I had no choice but to pay the $508 to have it fixed. When I went to pick up my car, Bob was very nice and gave a more in-depth explanation of what happened. He even gave me the ruined mass air flow sensor.
When I contacted Nissan dealership #1, this was their response: "When you came in on January 17, 2015 it was the first time we had seen the vehicle, while we did perform an oil change and inspection the vehicle was driven for over 3,000 miles before the incident occurred. If you are familiar with that system it would be almost impossible to go over 100 miles before the check engine light would have came on to alert that there was a problem with the air regulatory system in the car. The Mass Air Flow sensor is in place to make sure the vehicle can achieve perfect fuel to air ratio, with an "unsecured" air box there would have been excessive amount of air would cause the air to fuel ratio to be out of range causing a check engine light on or running issues."
My question is - who do I believe? Is it possible that the air box or air filter was secured enough to keep the check engine light from coming on but unsecured enough to let tiny-sized debris in? If it was unsecured enough to let the tiny-sized debris in, couldn't it potentially take more than 3,000 miles for the debris to accumulate enough to damage the mass air flow sensor?
I want Nissan dealership #1 to take responsibility but only if it was their fault. Any advice or ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Tagged:
0