Alright, so I was showing a friend of mine my MAf so he could see exactly what I was planning on modifying (it's awful hard to explain it without looking at it) and it got dark and I accidentally plug the 3 prong connectors back into the wrong sockets. An hour later I tried to start her and she wouldn't start.....I then got back under the hood and figured out my mistake but now I have a CEL. Can anybody give me some guidance on this??? Any help is appreciated!!!! TIA

Matt

In your MAF terminal #1 (peel back rubber boot to see numbers) is signal output to the ECU... between 4.65/4.8 volts MAX. When you reversed it you sent 12 volts on "ignition on" and 14 volts when car started to your sensor (and "maybe" straight thru to the ECU).

Terminal #2 is Ground ( no change there when reversing plug/harness).

Terminal #3 is for Battery + power.

I have no idea what reversing the harness could have. In fact I don't exactly know how you accomplished it as there's a male/female spade/receptacle that keeps the plug from going on backwards. BFH??

1. Worst case: fried ECU and/or MAF sensor
2. Probable: fried MAF sensor
3. Least likely: Code only which can be cleared with VAG

You can try the VAG locator & have your code reset by someone with VAG-COM. I forgot the URL, or I'd give it to you. I know someone here knows it. 13Fox Trot, at least you're honest; I was beginning to think everyone in the Army was an 11Bravo. BTW, what state are you in now?

Basically it was dark and the three prong BLACK plug that goes into the maf just looked to darn close to that 3 prong brown plug. Unfortunately they fit into each other's slots perfectly. Now, dumb question but if the car started and I drove it back home (.5 mile) without any problems...could the ECU really be fried?? Also, would the car still run fine with a fried ECU?? I need to drive about 200 miles this weekend...what am I looking at as far as making this whole fiasco right??? I really appreciate your help...gosh I wish I had had a flashlight =(
Matt

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I have the VAG tool locator saved somewhere in my favorites....just have to hunt it down. Haha, my buddy who lives right next door to me is a grunt....you find some good ones and some REALLY ODD ones! I'm in Pennsylvania. 28ID, 55 Brigade 109th FA. Some day I'm definitely gonna have to go back and visit good old Fort Sill in your neck of the woods....

code pulled. I can do it if you're in my area.

I looked up on the VAG-tool locator and it looks like pittsburgh is going to be my nearest hit. I may try to e-mail some of the people on the list tonight and see if I could get with them this weekend. Can I safely drive it any distance though????
I can't believe how much this is affecting me....I feel like a mother around her sick child's bed. I'll bet you could write a book about the psychological affects that your car has on your being. Thanks again, Mr D...

Matt.

but about a day later the CEL disappeared. Evidently the ECU somehow figured there is no more problems and turn off the CEL light.

If your car is running fine I would just wait a day or two and see if the CEL will go off by itself.

<a href="http://www.steve-hall.com/cgi-bin/VAG-Locator.pl">VAG Tool Locator</a>

It goes out when I stop the car and restart the engine.
No other unusual problems except the light.