I bought a 99 explorer xlt v8 with 53,000 miles on it the end of March. The check engine light came on...and I took it to the Ford dealer where I bought it. The MAF..(mass air flow sensor) is bad. It's costing me $330.00. Questions for you...was it needed, or was there a cheaper way to go? It's an awful lot of money right off the bat here. I'm trying to see if the used car manager will allow any sort of warranty on this part. What do you people think?

 

The MAF is one of the few electrical parts that you rarely hear needing to be replaced. I would speculate that a junkyard or auto recycler would be a reasonable place to try to pick one up. This is because wear and tear is limited.

The MAF can be cleaned to see whether that was all that was need. The install charge should have been nil. You can take it off, cleaned it, and replace in 15 to 30 minutes.

Can't hurt to try to get some sort of credit.

Best of luck.

 

You might want to read through this thread:

MAF Cleaning