Pontiac Repair: 1990 bonneville SSE>backfiring, mass air meter, mass air flow sensor

Question
Hi Todd,i did a complete tune-up,plugs,wires,O2 sensor,oil change.The car was running fine.the next morning it idles like crap and is backfiring through my cold air intake that i've had on the car for 2yrs. At low speed it's driveable but still chugs.No engine light.When i cleaned the battery terminals they were partly loose & i can't get them really snug without stripping.Could this be the prob. ???

Answer
Hey Troy:

This can be a simple fix for you. If this car has an ignition coild assembly that all 3 coils are one complete assembly then it has a bad coil pack. If it has three individual coild than that's not the problem. The one big coild assembly was made my motorola and when they go bad on cold starts they do not produce enough spark and it's late causing the backfire. Hopefully that is the design you have If not you have to look deeper into the problem. it could be a bad coolant temp sensor or a bad mass air flow sensor. To try the mass air meter just unplug it and drive it. It will hesitate but if it runs better then the air flow meter is bad or dirty. These are just a few things to try.I really douby that the battery cables are the issue here but if they are excesivly loose they can cause a whole host of issues including driveability. You may want to get new cables and the little spacer that goe in between the 2 (+) cables that gets corroded up and it will not allow you to tighten them right. Some bakeing soda and water and a brush will clean up any corrosion that may be there as well.  Good luck and Happy holidays :}