MAF or Throttle body (or something else) ???

[imi7]

Hi,

I have an X5 4.6is (2003). Recently have been driving through some major sandstorms here in the Middle East, so had the air filters replaced about 4 weeks ago during a routine service.

The car has been a little weird over the last 24 hours. I was waiting for a friend in a mall and had AC running and slept a while - when I woke up I noticed the car had stalled and therefore was no longer started (I was waiting for around 2 hours).

Then today, I noticed that if you switch the AC OFF, then the car would stall from idle as the revs drop below 500rpm (usually they idle at 700 rpm without the AC on). But, once the AC is switched on, revs increase and car doesnt stall at all during idle. I tested the car (in a private car park) by driving the car without the AC on, and sure enough as the revs drop towards idle the car would stall and turn off !!

I decided to unhook the MAF sensor to eliminate this possible fault. It is a pain to remove and I was unsucessful. However, I did notice that if I had the car on IDLE and the AC switched off, tapping the MAF housing would cause the car to drop revs to a stall - this makes me think it's the MAF, but having had it replaced only 2.5 yrs ago from BMW seems a bit unusual.

Could it be anything else? Throttle body perhaps? I will try to clean the MAF as dont want to buy another new one for £300 from the stealer here. Also, what do you guys think of this one on ebay: -

Air Flow Mass Meter Sensor BMW X5 4.4i 4.6is (E53) 96-01 MAF | eBay

Look forward to hearing from you.

Cheers

Imi.

UK Expat living in the Middle East .