Jaguar Repair: 1988 VDP idles wont accelerate, jaguar vanden plas, fuel pressure regulator

Question
Hi,

   I have a 1988 Jaguar Vanden Plas with 135k and a manual. I purchased this from someone that stored it for five years. I bought it not running. I have had it for 6 months now. I have put maybe 1k miles on it. I replaced the fuel pump and filter when I bought it. the car fired right up. Went to start the next day and it wouldn't start, relpaced the crank position sensor and it fired right back up. New oil, filter and air filter cuase it had been sitting. There has been a skip in the motor since I got it runnung, it also had a vacuum leak in the line that runs to the exhaust under the intake. I fixed that when I relpaced the TPS sensor recently. The car ran fine up to highway speeds and then would skip and cause a hesitiation when cruising but this did not stop the car from moving you just have to go 65 then 70 then 65 then 70 on and on. O.K. onto the problem. It recently gave me a fueling failure code and stumbled a few times but I was still able to drive it home. I ordered a TPS sensor and replaced it. Car ran fine for 50 miles and then abruptly died on the road going 40 mph barely got it to a parking lot. had it towed to a friends house as I was 50 miles from home. I replaced the coolant temp. sensor, the fuel pressure regulator, coil, amp.(little black piece on a silver plate) The previous owner had a major service performed on it before I bought it and before storage with new cap & wires, plugs and rotor, brakes, and tires I have since replaced the pugs again with Bosh Platinums. I have also replaced the intake gasket when I changed the fuel pump. I replaced the TPS sensor back to the old one thinking I could limp it home but it was not the case. It will start and run fine, smoooooth but as soon as you step on the gas it will only go to 3k rpm in park and will not stay there, falls off immediately and 2k in drive and I am not able to get the car to drive over 5 mph and it still skips at all rpms above idle. When I replaced the fuel pressure regulator with a used one it ran fine for maybe 5 mins. then the same issue, I even tried to squeeze the return line but it still fell on its face but no codes. When you try and rev it up it pops and stumbles and holds 2k rpm with a skip no matter where the gas pedal is. This has been going on for 2 weeks so I have had alot of time to read all the blogs to no avail. I do not have a fuel pressure guage or vacuum guage. I WILL purchase them tomorrow! I tried unplugging the MAS(mass airflow sensor)and it died immediately, but I can restert it without the MAS plugged in and it still doesn't want to rev. I cleaned the throttle body when I replaced the TPS. I pulled the injectors and cleaned them all seem fine. I also took the gas cap off to see if that may help but it didn't. I pulled the idle air valve cleaned it and it seemed fine also but I don't know if that is a valid check. I checked the voltage at the battery and had 14.3 at idle. the only other parts that I think would cause this problem would be the EGR valve or the cats. I unplugged the oxygen sensor but that did nothing. There were mice living in or near it for some time while it was in storage in a small dirt floor garage. If there is something obvious, please let me hear it cause I'm outta ideas until I get those darn tools.

Answer
It sound like you may have a problem with your air flow meter. I will do some checking and get back to you. The only way to check it is to replace it. It is not cheap. If the car has a fuel tank change over valve, please check it. If it is okay, then your air flow meter is probably bad. Sam