I was looking into the hole where the MAF goes, and I saw inside the intake the walls were wet. There wasn't an accumulation of liquid on the bottom, it was just the walls that appeared wet.

Does anyone know if this is normal, abnormal, or critically abnormal? I have a 2006 AT, so I don't imagine it's from the engine oil flowing into the intake (thought that was a 04/05 problem).

If it's not a normal thing, how should I go about cleaning it?

 

Do you have an AEM or MazdaSpeed intake?

 

Sorry, didn't specify. It's the stock intake.

 

Should be fine to just remove the flexible tube and wipe it dry.
Might also want to remove the air filter and inspect it while you're in there.

 

Alright, I'll do that tonight. It was just a weird sight, seeing the insides all shiny.

 

There's a pressure differential at the MAF (as pressure decreases, temperature decreases - Boyle's Law) and thefore under certain climatic and use conditions there's a possibilty of slight condensation there. It's rare but obviously all the stars were aligned for you and you just happened to pull your MAF.....

edit: Somewhat related just this morning there was condensation on the outside of my walk-out basement sliding glass door (outdoors more humid and warmer than indoors). Also quite rare in my area for this time of year. Of course with the A/C on in Summer it's pretty common.

 

I'm going to go buy a lottery ticket now...

I'll check tonight with a white cloth. If the result is purple, then it's engine oil. If not, I'll assume water.

I think the best benefit of royal purple is that I can easily tell when it goes somewhere

 

^ If you have the stock oil fill setup (don't have an oil catch can & relief filter) the fill stem-to-excess oil intake is downstream of the MAF so it really shouldn't be oil, but again in rare instances there can be some oil vapor 'blowback.'

 

Yeah, my preliminary search on the forum pops up a lot of threads on either oil overfill (which I've done once or twice), or oil blowback (which is stated to be rare).

I'll update this thread tonight when i get home from work.

Side point, when is overfill determined? The dipstick has the two lines, 3 dots, and top and bottom of the flat areas. I've gone above the top line a few times (my first few times topping off oil, was still new to the process), but never above the flat area. Would that be considered too much oil?

 

You have an '06 so you SHOULD have the updated oil filler neck that routes the hose down to the maintenance ports instead of the intake.
Easy way to tell is simply look at the oil filler neck and follow the hose coming out of it.

 

Will do, I'll take a look at that tonight as well. Thanks!

 

Good catch Jon; I sometimes forget that not everyone is lucky enough to have an '05 Shinka.

 

If the oil is Purple in the intake..the most likely cause is from when you filled the oil if you have an older 8 before they changed the breather..

RP oil doesn't stay purple for long in the engine.....the color goes away quickly...so it wouldn't be blowby oil that color

 

Good news! Turns out the wet look was just very reflective plastic! I feel like a massive idiot!

It really did look wet inside though, I literally tried wiping it away for a good 10 minutes and realized nothing changed. Then I reached in with my finger and felt it, and there was no wet feeling. I did all this through the MAF hole.

So I fingered my car, it didn't get wet, and I was disappointed. Story of my life.

 

Lmfao