Nissan Repair: 1998 Nissan Maxima SE - looses power at 2500 RPM, nissan maxima se, mass airflow sensor

Question
Hi,

We have a 1998 Nissan Maxima SE.  It started to loose power / die this afternoon while my son was driving it.  The car starts and idles fine and can be driven if accelerating smoothly and staying under 2500 RPM.  When in Park / Neutral you can rev the engine to 2500 RPM then it cuts off / begins to loose power / shutter.  The SES light came on during this process.  The car will die when in gear if you don't have a very light foot on the accelerator.

I thought this might be a fuel starvation problem and purchased a can of heet (the car had been running fine until this afternoon) and a new fuel filter--with no luck.  

I am wondering if this might be a computer / governor that is shutting it down for some reason.  We did have a sound system put in the car a few days ago by Best Buy... is there a possibility that this could be causing an electrical circut issue with the computer (sounds silly but it is the only change that we are aware of to the vehicle)?

Thank you for your time in reviewing and responding to this question and making these forums available with your expertise.

Todd

Answer
Todd,

It sounds crazy since there is no code.  But, it is probably the mass airflow sensor that is going out.  Get a Haynes Manual and a digital volt/ohm meter and test the unit using the meter.  Also, if you go to Autozone or Checker they will read the codes for free.  So, before you purchase anything get the codes checked and email me back.