# P1101 engine light code - any ideas? 2017 Cruze LT



## Ma v e n (Oct 8, 2018)

If you want to diagnose it yourself the first thing you need to do is get your hands on a manometer, or a vacuum gauge that's sensitive enough to read very weak vacuum. With engine off, attach hose from your chosen tool to the dipstick hope on valve cover. Start and idle engine, you should have about 3-5inches H2O of vacuum. If you have less you have a clogged PCV orifice, it's located inside the valve cover. It can be cleaned, but it's probably $100 or more worth of gaskets and seals to access it. And special tools are required for proper tear down and assembly.


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## Blasirl (Mar 31, 2015)

*P1101: MAF Out of Self Test Range*


P1101 is one of the most common of the *Chevy Cruze* trouble codes. Whenever you start the vehicle, the mass airflow sensor does a self diagnostic. If the results of this test are out of range, than the *P1101 trouble code* is thrown.

There are a number of issues that can cause the mass air flow sensor to fail the diagnostic. We’ll list them in the most to least likely to have happened.

*Chevy Cruze P1101 Causes*
*Engine Wiring*– A good place to start is to do an inspection of the area around where the mass airflow sensor plugs into the intake. Make sure that the wiring doesn’t look broken or disconnected. You’d be surprised, in the winter months a rodent can cause a lot of damage to a an engine in one night.

*Air Filter*– Pull your air filter and see if something has gotten in there. If it has, remove the debris. Or if the filter looks very dirty go ahead and replace it. If enough air is not getting into the engine the mass airflow sensor is not going to get a proper reading, and P1101 will likely be thrown.

If neither the engine wiring or the air filter seems to be a problem, then it’s going to be time to pull the mass airflow sensor and see if it is dirty. A word of caution, these sensors can be incredibly sensitive to the oil’s on skin so make sure to use caution and not touch the sensor element itself.

*Leaking Intake*– If the intake seal on the Chevy Cruze has been damaged, there’ll be a vacuum leak. A vacuum leak means that air will be getting in to the intake not through the throttle. This is going to dramatically alter the reading at the mass airflow sensor gets and will trigger P1101.

A mechanic would be able to do something called a smoke test, which would let them visually see where the intake is leaking from.

If you would like to try to find the vacuum leak yourself go ahead and perform a visual inspection and make sure that you don’t have a disconnected or broken vacuum hose. If it looks ok, than carb and choke cleaner can help. Here’s a good video on vacuum leak diagnosis.






*MAF Sensor May be Bad*– at this point the only cost that we should have incurred is the cost of a can of carb and choke cleaner. If everything checked out, and there were no intake leeks, than it’s time to evaluate whether the MAF sensor is bad.

Here’s another YouTube video. This one goes over how to test a MAF sensor with a multi-meter. It’s relatively easy to do and multi meters are cheap.

Read more at: Chevy Cruze P1101 and P0171 Trouble Codes | Drivetrain Resource


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## Ma v e n (Oct 8, 2018)

On a Gen2 the P1101 is not a start up self test, its a continuously running monitor, comparing MAP and calculated airflow to actual measured MAF airflow.

I'll have to watch that video and see if it's relevant.


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## Hatchins24 (Jan 31, 2019)

I took it to a Chevy dealer as I wanted someone with specific Chevy expertise to look at it. Turns out it was a faulty throttle body. Since I have 161,000 miles decided best to just replace it. Drives with power again and engine light is gone.


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## ShannonT (Dec 6, 2020)

Hatchins24 said:


> I took it to a Chevy dealer as I wanted someone with specific Chevy expertise to look at it. Turns out it was a faulty throttle body. Since I have 161,000 miles decided best to just replace it. Drives with power again and engine light is gone.


Just curious what they charged you for that?


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## 2016 Chevy Cruze (Aug 12, 2020)

Hatchins24 said:


> Hi everyone,
> 
> Been getting this code for awhile now. I’ve taken it to two different places. One adjusted the air filter and the other replaced it. Both with no results of completely getting rid of this code.
> 
> ...


I have good news for you. To fix your P1101 you need to clean the trottle body and I promise the engine light will go off problem fix


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## shan0422 (Apr 15, 2021)

I did exactly as you said, I cleaned the throttle body and I still have no power, and I replaced the MAF sensor.


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## Hunt4freedom (Jan 28, 2021)

Just fixed it on my 17 Cruze, simple fix really. Removed the throttle body and cleaned it 100% put it back together, didn’t even clear the code. The computer recognized the problem was fixed after 2 run cycles and went away. I did out my code reader on it after that and said no codes found. I have been running like that for a week now and no problems. I drive 800 miles a week as I am a district manager and has not come back! Hope this helps and I know this is a older thread. But wanted to put what I found!


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## Yea (10 mo ago)

Blasirl said:


> *P1101: MAF Out of Self Test Range
> Would a loose coil or spark plug cause the p1101 code?*
> 
> 
> ...


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## Blasirl (Mar 31, 2015)

Yea said:


> ??


Welcome Aboard!

I think you forgot to post your message.

Don't forget to introduce yourself and your Cruze here.


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## gkcnerken (2 mo ago)

Hello pals, I m writing to thank everyone here. I have been having the check engine light for too long on my dashboard due to the code P1101 MAF sensor issue. I have changed the sensor but it did not go away. After reading all your suggestions, I have taken out the throttle body and cleaned it all. And I checked the air filter and it was not looking okay. I cleaned it a bit and now the engine light is gone! I finally can start my car remotely with the fob super happy with that. Cheers! ☺ 
Feel free to ask me anything.


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