Weird happening C4 won't rev beyond idle
 

There is a first for everything, this incident has me really puzzled.

- After a 20 mph left turn, I applied gas to get up to speed: The engine coughed, spluttered as though over-chocked but would not rev beyond idle. Shut it down fearing the worst. A visual check under hood revealed nothing out of the ordinary except a fuel smell. Restarted with no problem, still no acceleration. Tried coaxing the puppy by gentle use of the gas pedal, stiil no acceleration. This went on for what seemed forever (in local NY traffic). Eventually, I found a place to stop, with engine running, I disconnected the two or three MAF (I think) connectors. one of these, a three conductor job, must have done something to reset the "computer" because I was able to get what seems to be normal acceleration.
So, my question is: What would cause this problem and, more to the point, what can I do to prevent a reoccurrence.

Must add that the car has been idling kind of rough and it feels like there is ( for those who remember carburators) a "flat spot" at about 12-1400 RPM.

Any advise from the resident experts is greatly appreciated.

Pat

RE: Weird happening C4 won't rev beyond idle
 

If you unplugged the Mass Airflow sensor, you put it in a backup mode with preprogrammed responses to throttle position. Should mean MAF is bad. Do you have a "Check Engine" light before you unplugged sensor?

RE: Weird happening C4 won't rev beyond idle
 

LB, Thanks for the response.

No check engine light, no warning light. As notes, with not a little surprise, she just would not accelerate coming out of the L turn... Or beyond, for that matter, until I pulled those connectors!
You opine that I may have a bad MAF and you're probably right. Dumb that I am on these matters, would that not keep the car from staring/running?

Regards,

Pat

RE: Weird happening C4 won't rev beyond idle
 

The same thing happend to my 84' the problem was the catalytic converter was clogged causing back pressure. Mine died on the toll road, where the normal speed is 70mph+