Getting rid of turbo lag

I have apparently got rid of dramatic turbo lag by disconnecting the Mass Airflow Sensor. Can someone say if this can be left disconnected, and if so, with what effect?

Can't confirm the same for TD5 engines, but generally with stuff i've worked on, disconnecting the Mass Airflow Sensor means the ECU "guesses" how much air is coming in and usually overfuels like mad, and kills lambda sensors/catalytic converters...

Again, not played with TD5s but I'd try cleaning it (there is a special cleaning solution, theyre easily damaged) or replacing it for a permanent solution

if it runs better without the maf connected then you need a new maf sensor as your original aint working as it should

The plumber said:

I have apparently got rid of dramatic turbo lag by disconnecting the Mass Airflow Sensor. Can someone say if this can be left disconnected, and if so, with what effect?

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i'm in the middle of a complex investigation about this issue... Td5's are acting different on this area... i observed that the remapped auto D2's are more sensitive when it comes of MAF inputs... if the engine is not remapped and also de-EGR'd (and manual) it might not make a big difference even with a new maf... like mine does... The Td5 ECM works with an addaptive strategy and if the default values which it uses without maf are saved from a perfect journey the mpg might be even better than with the maf on... cos the EEPROM saves the best values all the time...but i dont know how long it keeps them..... i need some more time to get to the end of this issue to make a complete theory .... but i will and report back some time

when i had a Td5 110 van it allways used to drop boost between gears no matter what.
unplugged the MAF and it ran nicely with no issues etc (even looking at Nanocom it came across ok)
brought a new MAF off ebay and whacked it on and was driving up the road and it was straight back to how it was so much so i didnt even complete my 5mile trip without gettin out and unplugging it at the side of the road

NRS91 said:

when i had a Td5 110 van it allways used to drop boost between gears no matter what.
unplugged the MAF and it ran nicely with no issues etc (even looking at Nanocom it came across ok)
brought a new MAF off ebay and whacked it on and was driving up the road and it was straight back to how it was so much so i didnt even complete my 5mile trip without gettin out and unplugging it at the side of the road

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the ebay maf sensors are cheap crap, you need to buy a genuine one

johnlad said:

the ebay maf sensors are cheap crap, you need to buy a genuine one

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I concur. You get what you pay for.

Shifty1962 said:

I concur. You get what you pay for.

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fair enough... all i could afford at the time tbh

Can someone tell me how to identify/find the MAF. I have a particular interest in the turbo lab as not only do I have an auto box I live in Johannesburg which is 5000 ft up so I am down on boost anyway.

tomn117 said:

Can someone tell me how to identify/find the MAF. I have a particular interest in the turbo lab as not only do I have an auto box I live in Johannesburg which is 5000 ft up so I am down on boost anyway.

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it is just in front of the air box, a cylindrical tube like thing with a wire plugged into it and is fastened onto air pipework

hey boet, unplugging it is not a good thing to do to try and get rid of turbo lag. no matter what you do it will always have some lag. Un plugging sensor will cause your fuel consumption to go up and the vehicle will also start to smoke more. I live in Botswana and run a fleet of 23 TD5 defenders, have tried all the tricks. My advice... get your intercooler cleaned and serviced and check the amount of play on your turbo. i t may be on its last legs to bigin with.

When my TD5 suffers from turbo lag it usually means it's time to clean the MAP sensor again.