Last Monday I started experiencing intermittent rough running and surging. I stopped and filled it up hoping that it was a low fuel problem. It would run fine for a while and then it would start playing up. Took it for a short ride on Friday and the symptoms disappeared. Yesterday the symptoms returned, so thinking I had dirty injectors I swapped them for a spare refurbished set and cleaned the fuel rail. Injector swapping did not change the symptoms. I decided to look a bit further and I set the revs to 1000 rpm which could only be reached by using the fast idle. Once set at 1000 rpm I hit the green start button and the engine immediately lost revs and died. Pressing the green button enriches the mixture, so it was running too rich. Inspecting the tailpipe confirmed this, it was black. So with this evidence I believe I have sticky MAF problem. Before I start delving into the MAF, am I on the right track? And do I have to pull apart the MAF to clean it, or is there another way? And if I do have to pull it apart  what should I be looking for.
Regards Martin.

you don't have a pinched - bent over return fuel line  or anything after the fuel rail that could add restriction ?

Or a bad temp sensor (or its connections).

Inge K. wrote:Or a bad temp sensor (or its connections).

+1

Thanks guys I'll check the return line first as I had to reroute it when I fitted the cooler. I've had previous connector problems (twice in twenty  years) but the bad temp sensor connection but it caused it to over fuel on start up, flooding the engine. The only way to start it was to remove the fuel pump fuse and replace it as the engine started to die. I'll give it a go though.
Regards martin.

Easy fix, thanks guy's, once Charlie suggested return line I went straight to it this morning. When I fitted my fuel cooler I had to reroute the line about 4-5 times to try and get it to stop kinking. Eventually with a longer hose and a total reroute I got it to stop kinking. It was fine for a couple of weeks. However on the day that it started to play up I was running in traffic and I saw 39C on the dash mounted temp gauge. The very thing that I had made to cure the hot running problem was my down fall. Due to the excess heat the hose collapsed. I went and bought some heavier hose but I am not going to mount it back until I can source a spring to go around the outside of the hose, preferably stainless steel. You use to be able to get them from hydraulic shops, so I am now on the hunt. The guy across the road from me has a mobile hose repair business so I'll try him first.
Thanks fellas regards Martin.