Ford Repair: Air Intake for TBird, mass air meter, air flow sensor

Question
I drive a 95 V8 4.6L T-Bird. My car has progresivly gotten slower at accelerating to the point now where if I stand on the petal, it revs like it's in nutral. The car drives fine normally, but if I need to step on it for any reason, or if I am switching gears, the car just takes a nose dive like I switched it in netral and does nothing. Also, when I actually do accelerate, I notice rappid popping noises comming out of my exhaust pipes. I've narrowed the problem down and I'm pretty sure it's not the tranny or the fuel injectors. I brought it to a mechanic and he said that the mas air flow sensor might be broken (because my check engine light is on and that was the reading he got when he pluged his computer in). Should I just simply by a new one or is this a more complicated problem? Any advice on my problem would be greatly appreciated. Thank yuou very much, Paul

Answer
Paul-

  I would just swap out the mass air meter.  It's a simple 20 or 30 minute job and can be done at home without any special tools.  I would, however, recommend that after you swap in the new sensor, you reset the computer.  This is usually pretty easy to do...just disconnect the battery and turn the key to the "accessory on" position (one position short of turning over the motor) and leave it that way for 20-30 minutes.  Then reconnect the battery.  That should help the computer adapt to the changes made the next time you start the car.  You'll have to reset your radio settings and whatnot, but it's better than spending a bunch of money to have a shop clear the trouble code.  Hope this helps.

Steve