[Mass Air Flow Sensor]

Hi Trevor, and thanks for your reply mate. As it is, I took a gamble and bought the £25 one from Ebay and it worked brilliantly - the car is now back to its usual smooth-running self.

Having got it back to full health we decided it was about time for a change as we'd had it since 2008, so we traded it in for an 05-plated Lexus RX300

Cheers anyway

[Mass Air Flow Sensor]

My car is currently in my mate's garage for repair as it won't run. The OBD info keeps throwing the code for the Mass Air Flow Sensor but my mate is a bit reluctant to categorically say that yes, the MAFS is the problem because when a MAFS goes faulty, usually the car will run but lacks power, whereas my car won't run at all - it'll fire up but is very lumpy and dies after a few seconds.

Thinking that if it wasn't going to cost much we might as well get a new MAFS anyway, he tried all his usual suppliers but can't get one and the Nissan Main Stealers want £253 PLUS VAT!!

I've looked on Ebay and there are quite a few suppliers who are selling MAFS for £25 to £35 that, according to the description, are listed as fitting my car (such as this one). The descriptions state "Nissan Maxima QX, A33, 3.0, V6, 24V, Petrol, 2988cc, Year 03.00 to - (mine's 52-plated), engine code VQ30DE, ALL of which is correct, but these MAFS listed all have a 5-pin connector whereas my car and existing MAFS has a 4-pin connection.

The official Nissan factory workshop manual wiring diagram clearly shows four wires and 4-pins, with a blank space on the connector where the fifth pin is located as you'll see in the attachment. Does anyone know if that fifth pin on the Ebay-listed sensors is somehow just a blank or is perhaps 'commoned' with one of the other four? In other words, would a 5-pin sensor from Ebay work in a 4-pin system? Or does anyone know where I can get a 4-pin sensor from, other than the main dealers?