1999 GTP - Rough idle, stalls, black smoke, rich fuel. HELP!

[BoneDC]

OK - So here is the deal today I was drving my car, and it stalled when I came to a stop light. So I started it back up and was able to drive it but everytime I took my foot off the gas it stalled. Now it is sitting in my driveway and it will occasinally fire when trying to start it - when it does it is only for a few seconds with a lot of black smoke and it runs really rough. There is no "Service Engine Soon Light" so I did not think it was throwing a code, but I hooked up the code reader and got a P0101 code - Mass air flow sensor circut, range or performance problems.

So I took off the Mass Air Flow (MAF) sensor and the Idle Air Control (IAC) and tried to clean them up as best as I could, there was a lot of carbon residue on the IAC. After I got it all back together the car actually ran better, almost like it was clearing up, it idled for a few min before stalling out again! Now when I can get it started it will barely stay running - and the idle ocilates between 500-1500 RPMs. There is still no engine light.

*Small background info, I replaced the fuel pump and filter last year, and in September '07 I did have the "Service Engine Soon Light" come on for about a week before going off. I had it scanned and it was the upstream O2 sensor code.

This is what I think........possible bad sensor, upstream O2, MAF, IAC, maybe clogged fuel injectors, or bad Throttle Position Sensor (TPS). I think that fuel mixture is really rich and casuing the car to stall out.

Any thoughts or help would be greatly appreciated. thanks

[tblake]

Have you tried running the car with the Mass Air Flow Sensor disconnected yet? If it runs better you need to replace the MAF.

[BoneDC]

That did the trick, un-pluged the MAF and the car started and ran good. Thanks for the advice!