2002 Mass Airflow Sensor Code

My wife came home the other day and said our 2002 AWD Astro wouldn't go uphill over 45 MPH and the Service Engine light was on. Before I could get to Autozone of course the light went off, but the code was for Mass Air Flow Sensor. I changed out the Mass Airflow Sensor and went back to Autozone where the guy "accidentally" cleared the code. I went for a drive and with heavy acceleration got the light to come back on and it's the same code.....Mass Airflow Sensor.....and the van still has horrible lack of power up hills. Seems to be fine with light throttle on flat roads.

Potentially related to this, when driving steady speeds of over 65 MPH, especially with cruise on, the throttle will often stick until I kick the throttle to the floor 2-3 times.

I'm going to check for leaks in the intake path tonight.....and may even try swapping the throttle position sensor too....since they aren't that expensive.

Any other ideas?

I finally took it to the dealer....who said the problem had two sources:

1) Fuel filter clogged which made it run lean.

2) Catalytic converter plugged because lean mixture heated the exhaust to much and melted/fused the honeycomb in there.

They are actually going to replace it under emissions warranty....which I'm glad of because they cost $765!!!!

sounds like whats goimg on with my van.on the highway on flat ground it will run fine under lite throttle but if i press the gas it lugs back and forth.i also just replaced the filter and pump.how has it run after the cat change?

I had to have the van to use for a trip before they could get a new Cat in stock, so I cut a hole across the bottom 1/2 of the pipe right in front of the cat and the power was immediately right back where it should be.

And of course once they replaced the Cat with a new one, it continued to work fine too.