Severe starting issues and excessive gas consumtion!!!

I have a '99 cougar with just under 150,000 miles on it and I came back from a 6 hour drive and now it's have severe starting issues. Almost every time I have to put the pedal down to get it to turn over (And I realize this is breaking a carnal rule of fuel injection vehicles) and when it does start it will not idle until I put it in gear. After that it will run perfectly fine in town but as soon as it gets on the highway it the engine seems to bog down occasionaly, it feels like its shifting but its not. Plus its using excessive amounts of gas. I just drove barely 30 miles and it used a quarter tank of gas! :banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead: Someone help me please!

Have you gone thru the basics, vacume leak, a loose or a hole in your intake tube before the mass sensor? if so check you fuel pressure and check the fuel presure regulator. you may want to clean your throttle body with soap and water and clean your air by pass valve, you can use carb cleaner on that. it should be something pretty simple if everything is stock I have had my daughter in a 99 for four years now and it is up to 228,00 miles.

Do a Google ''Youtube auto vacuum leak test''

Being 10years old, the plastic, rubber, and gaskets go bad.

One other thought several years ago I had a Ford truck in with a simular complaint and it ended up being a broken power ground wire for the computer and sensors. it is typicaly 16 to18 ga. orange with a white stripe with a ring terminal