M5 Paul

Guys, I am hoping that someone on here has seen this issue and can hopefully give me some pointers as to where to go from our current situation.

My dad has a 1994 M reg 1.6 90bhp zetec engined escort sapphire. It has been 100% reliable until now. It was originally my wifes grandfathers car from new and then ours before my dad bought it from us many years ago. Low mileage with under 55,000.

A month or so ago the battery was very low so he removed the battery and recharged it. Put it back on the car and it started perfectly, but, after five minutes it failed to tick over and stalled.

What happens is, you start the car and within 20 seconds it REALLY starts to splutter, almost like it is struggling with fueling, the revs drop right off and it begins to stall. Really vigorous use of the accelerator will just about keep the engine running but as soon as you stop the engine dies.

I unplugged the MAF and immediatly the car starts and idles perfectly and in fact drives as well as ever so we immediately assumed the MAF was shot. We have put two different MAFs on with exactly the same result, that as soon as it is plugged in the car just dies so we have to rule the MAF out. We have had the car into a small local garage that we totally trust but they have not been able to trace the fault either - they only charged us £25 for what amounts to maybe four or so hours of diags as they had a quick look as and when they could in between jobs.

I traced the wiring diagram found that one of the MAF wires goes directly back to the battery so assumed that this could be the problem. Reconnected the battery and made sure the terminals were good and tight, no difference. I will bridge this wire with a new one just to see if it is a broken wire at some point.

Has anybody experianced this? It really just seems like a busted MAF but clearly isn't. Why does the car run as expected with the MAF wiring plug disconnected? Any advice would be very very welcome.