1994 Ford Explorer thick black smoke comes out tailpipe?

Answer 1

I had the same problem on my 93. Trust me before trying any thing else swap your MAF mass air flow sensor do not try to clean. If you no anybody with early 90's explorer or ranger try theres or go to your local auto reclyer. Got two at min for 8$. All you is a security torx set there are two screws to it. Its right in plane sight on the aluminum air intake right after the filter. O yea theres a wire harnes with a clip on the bottom. Be carfull to pull straight up there will be two little sensors on it look like light bulb filamints. ------ ( different contributor-->) I agree with this person. I just spent about 3 months of getting no more than 5 mpg after I pulled my MAF sensor and cleaned it with electronics contact cleaner. Granted I had never done this before and may have damaged the filaments when I pulled it out or I may have damaged the filaments with the spray from the contact cleaner by holding it too close. I went and had two oxygen sensors replaced as well and this did not fix the problem. A shop wanted $200 for a new MAF sensor and like $30 to put it in. Autozone has MAF sensors for about $105. It finally occurred to me to call a junk yard (auto recycler). I did this and got one for $25. They gave it to me in the aluminum intake thing as well, so I could have even saved the $15-$20 I spent on a set of security torx tools. Now my 1994 Ford explorer runs like a top again. And to think, a week ago I was thinking of dumping it on Craigslist for whatever I could get. I never would have thought this one little simple to replace and cheap ( if you get it from a junk yard) part could make such a huge difference. You don't need to buy a new one either to find out if it's your problem. these either work or they don't. Cars probably don't end up in the junk yard as the result of this simple to fix problem, so there's a good bet you'll get a good one at the auto recycler.