I have cleaned my MAF sensor about once a year with Alcohol and Qtips. it is easy to remove from it's housing with the two torx screws that hold it in. just remove them and pull the sensor straight up out of the sensor housing. do not use carb cleaner or anything except alcohol. it is made of platinum and some cleaners can damage it.

it is suppossed to be self cleaning, when it heats up it should clean itself, but when i took mine out the last time it had noticeable gunk on it, if it gets a slight mist of oil on it then dirt will stick to it.

i clean mine becausr i have a Amsoil hi flow air filter (like a K&N) it is reusable and uses oil like the K&N. when it is reoiled i have noticed the MAF gets dirty after a about a week, i clean it then.

It will not do any harm to use the alcohol, a friend who owns a shop told me they clean MAF sensors all of the time this way.

after i clean it the car seems to idle smoother and runs better. worth a try.

Dan