another way to pull codes?

ok, here we go again. i jacked the car up, i was mistaken, i have o2 sensors. i bought a can of contact cleaner, cleaned the vane on the maf and the electrical connector contacts. i removed the maf sensor and went to auto zone and asked if they could test it. they could not, but the guy there told me to crank the car and disconnect the maf sensor while it was running, and if it ran the same, the maf sensor was bad.

does that sound right?

i reconnected the maf and cranked the car, then disconnected it, and the car ran pretty much the same.

also, would a bad maf sensor prevent the car from revving past a certain rpm? you can floor it and it won't go past 2500 - 3000 rpm.

and the problem behind my missing/hesitating/bucking problem was........

loose distributor stator. to look at it you couldn't tell it was broken, but luckily for me i found a mechanic who knew his stuff. so if anyone has this problem in the future, that would be an item to take into consideration.

jrichker, once again thanks for all your help and guidance. i'll cut your grass, paint your house, you name it. i hope the residents at stangnet realize what a great benefit and resource you are.