Why You *Should* Buy a MAF CAL – MAF Calibration
October 14, 2024This article covers the uses cases where the MAF CAL is designed to be used. If you want to understand when MAF CAL is not suitable, there is an article here.
Fortunately, it’s very simple to decide if a MAF CAL is suitable for your situation.
MAF CAL is intended to be used where changes have been made to the intake, which have led to the MAF sensor no longer reading the mass of air entering the accurately.
Some Examples
Experimentation
You are in a position where you are experimenting with an intake design. This is the primary reason we developed MAF CAL.
You have changed the way the air flows over the MAF sensor (in a good way) or you have changed the amount of air flowing over the MAF sensor and you want to keep your fuel trims in check. This is what MAF CAL is primarily designed to do.
If you want to read more about calibrating MAF sensors, there is an article here
MAF Sensor Relocation
You have relocated the MAF sensor. Previous MAF sensor placement was not ideal but your engine tune was done using this old placement. MAF CAL can be used to recalibrate the MAF sensor signal so the engine ECU gets a more accurate picture of the air entering the engine (new placement should be superior to the old).
Air Filter Change
The next points are for filters mounted within around 30cm of the sensor. The closer to the sensor the filter is, the greater the effect.
Filter Material
Believe it or not, the material used in the air filter plays a part in the accuracy of the MAF sensor. Changing from one type of filter, say cotton, to paper, can lead to the MAF sensor reading differently. Calibrating the MAF sensor signal for this new filter is a use case MAF CAL.
Air Filter Size/Design
Going from an air filter which used a velocity stack in the neck to one that does not, will also affect how the MAF sensor reads. MAF CAL can help compensate.
Adding heat shielding and/or ducting to the air filter, with no other changes, is probably not a case for MAF calibration. A MAF sensor automatically compensates for changes in air temperature.
Intake Piping Size
Different intake piping diameter before the MAF sensor can affect it’s accuracy, and perhaps also piping after. This is a case for MAF calibration.
For all the cases I have given so far, I need to stress that we are fine tuning. If we had horrible MAF sensor placement (straight after a sharp bend for example) when the car was mapped and we have since made the placement better, MAF CAL could help but it’s not the answer.
Nothing can compensate for turbulent air passing through a MAF sensor.
MAF Housing Change
Probably the more obvious and most common use case is where the MAF sensor housing has been changed for a larger diameter, whether it be to get more accuracy at high loads or to remove a restriction. This will have a big impact on MAF accuracy and this is a case for MAF Calibration.
MAF CAL – MAF Scaling/Calibration with MAF CAL
Easily calibrate a MAF sensor signal after changes to the intake system. Scale a MAF signal with MAF CAL.
Increase or decrease MAF sensor signal by +/-50% to optimise engine fuelling (Not compatible with frequency based MAF sensors. …
