MAF Problem?

[hospitalbuilder]

I posted about this before, but I don't think I did a good job describing the problem. Talking about a 99 QX4, with 175,000 miles. I think it points to a MAF problem, but wanted to get your thoughts prior to jumping in and replacing it. The issue is totally random as far as I can tell, it started in December. I will be driving down the street and I will lose all power, until the vehicle slows down enough to keep the RPM's below 2,500 or 3,000. Then the engine will surge up to that point and die down again, surge back and die down, over and over. I ran a thing of Seafoam through the engine, added to a full tank, not through a vacuum intake, thinking I might have had water and junk in the tank. It basically went away for a month or so, but is now back and starting to occur more frequently. To date, all I have to do is turn the engine off for several seconds and it goes away entirely, until the next time. It happened to me when I was driving up to the Eisenhower Tunnel in the mountains, which put me in a pretty uncomfortable spot. Also, the engine idles extremely low and rough, if I restart the vehicle while it is still hot (not immediately, but if I let the it sit for ten to thirty minutes). Seems to do just fine when the engine is cold. This may be unrelated, but probably not.

I am going to clean the MAF this weekend. The problem is that I will have no immediate indication that this fixed things. If there are other potential culprits, particularly with a lower cost than replacing the MAF, I would definitely like to start there.

Please share your thoughts. Thanks

[SixGuns]

Have you replaced your fuel filter?

[hospitalbuilder]

I have not replaced the filter yet, I picked one up a few weeks ago, but life keeps getting in the way. I will do that this weekend too. Thanks

[hospitalbuilder]

Today, I changed the oil, oil filter, air filter, fuel filter and cleaned the MAF. I don't know if this solved my issue, but the rough idle and warm start problem appears to be gone. I am keeping my fingers crossed that everything is good for now. Changing that fuel filter was a real bear. I could not get the hoses off of the filter and after working for several unproductive minutes, I got my utility knife and cut both tubes to remove the filter. Getting the tubes back on was a bear too. I got some boiling water and dipped both tubes to soften them to get them to soften some so I could get them on. That helped some, but working on my back with a tight space, made this a real knuckle buster. I am very happy it is done.

[SixGuns]

Glad to hear you remedied it. Keep us posted if your issues some back..hopefully things stay kosher.