Q: Rough idle and stalling with exhaust popping

asked by on November 13, 2016

truck recently started idling really rough, stalling at times with exhaust popping sounds. i had to hold the gas pedal just to keep it from stalling. it would finally smooth out once it warmed up, only stalling or bogging down every now and then. it definitely has a hard time staying cranked when the engine it cold. a mechanic a few days ago replaced the EGR gasket and pressure sensor and cleaned out the ports and replaced the spark plugs and wires. he said it could be the air filter being dirty and possibly the MAF could be bad. i cleaned the air filter out and re-oiled it. still the same problem. just hoping to get a second opinion on if the MAF could be the culprit. thanks!

My car has 220000 miles.
My car has an automatic transmission.

Air Filter Replacement $104.43 - $174.79 Get a Quote
Check Engine Light is on Inspection $94.99 - $114.99 Get a Quote
Mass Airflow Sensor Replacement $188.36 - $786.53 Get a Quote

The first thing to do is to get rid of the oil type air filter. This oil bath type filter can cause the mass air flow to be contaminated with the oil from the filter you are using. You should first try and change out the air filter with a factory paper type. Then clean out the mass air flow sensor using special mass air cleaner spray and let it dry completely and reinstall it. Road test vehicle to see if problem is corrected. If it is then scan the computer and clear the Check Engine Light. If codes to the mass airflow sensor return and vehicle runs bad still then replace the mass airflow sensor. Sometimes cleaning the oil that contaminated the sensor will fix the problem if the sensor was not shorted out or damaged by the oil from the air filter oil.

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