MAF cleaning?

[xxxBlakexxx]

I cleaned the MAF last night. It did not help at all. I stopped by a Ford service center today for some help and got scolded for cleaning the MAF. I was told to NEVER do this and that people only clean them because of "knuckle heads that use too much oil on the K&Ns". I was warned that cleaners destroy the MAF wires.

I also got some help from the service manager at CJ Pony. He was very helpful.

His comments were:

1 - MAF's rarely need to be cleaned if at all.
2 - IAC's are really not much of a problem on the 4.6's.
3 - Base Idle needs to be reset whenever installing a new TB.

So, I pulled the IAC anyway and cleaned it. They was some carbon in it, but after it was installed there was only marginal improvement if any at all.

To set the base idle, you need to pull the wire on the IAC and start the motor (with all acessories OFF). The car should idle and not stall. If it stalls then slowly adjust the TB open until it will run by itself with the wire disconnected.

The check engine light will come on when you do this so you will need reset the computer. Connect the wire again.

After I did this, my idle rpms continued to "hunt" but only at a higher rpm. So, no dice.

As a last resort, I purchased and installed a new TPS. This made the best improvement. I think the idle is fine now, but I will watch it closely for a while to be sure.