alaskan_civic

I have a 2012 civic lx auto and at stoplights it sometimes drops 100-150 rpms and will act like it wants to sputter. sometimes it does this sometimes not. It also catched itself sometimes and goes back to normal idle. The airfilter was black and dirty. Should I clean the maf too?

ezone

How many miles?
And, isn't it still within warranty?

alaskan_civic

11k miles.

ezone

#1, do NOT touch it yourself. Take it in for warranty. (There is almost nothing a user can do with it anyway.)

But do not be surprised if you are told it is "normal".
It might very well be normal. Be ready to demonstrate your problem to the tech so everyone knows exactly what your problem is. There is nothing worse than a vague complaint on a work order that nobody in the shop can understand.

While you are on the dealers lot, test drive an identical car. That might demonstrate that they all do it and it is normal. Or not.
Um, that alone doesn't tell me anything. Unless you drive in some super harsh dusty environment, it should easily last 25-30k or whenever your maintenance minder says to change filters.
BTW: A dirty air filter does not affect your gas mileage.

NO.
If the air filter was doing its job properly, there is no need.
If fuel trim numbers don't indicate an issue, there is no need.

MAF is not normally an issue (not the way Ford's MAF sensors were famous for in the past). Fuel trim numbers would be skewed and you should have a CEL if it were merely dirty. You didn't put a K&N filter in there dripping with oil, did you?

If a bug was caught in it you might not be able to drive it at all. This seems to happen a lot when cheapo air filters are used on their other cars (Accord comes to mind first). This has really been the main issue with Hondas MAF sensors that I have seen consistently.

jordan1794

My 2006 Civic LX does the same thing, I always thought it was an issue, but have since just accepted it as normal.