Pontiac Repair: 1996 Pontiac Bonneville SE, mass air flow sensor, mass air flow

Question
Hi, Todd
I been having trouble with my Bonneville.
The car takes a long time to take off at red lights and stop signs as well as initially
Starting up. I have learned I need an oxygen 1/ bank 1 sensor, my question is will the
Loss of this sensor cause the car to not pick up speed? Today I drove in a vacant lot giving
Myself roughly 30 yards to push the pedal down all the way and take off. I noticed the rpm
Very slowly reached at 2 rpms and I only went to 20 mph at the end of the 30 yards.
I also would appreciate any other suggestions on the cause of this sluggish take off as well as
Options on fixing the problem.
Thank You

Answer
Hi There:

Unless an oxygen sensor has failed completely it will have little effect on the way it runs like you say that it does. If it lacking power I would possably suspect a plugged/restricted catalitic converter??? too much back pressure can cause it to lack power. As the service engine soon come on ? if so stop by a big box xtore and have it scanned for codes to see what code(S) are stored. if it has codes in it it's a place to start. another quick thing to try is unplug the Mass Air Flow sensor. it's a 3 wire sensor on the top of the throttle body pink/yellow/vblack are the colors I beieve of the sensor. try driving it with that unplugged. it will hesitate from a stop but see if it lack power. if the lack of power is gone the sensor is bad. That is where I would start. good luck :-}