OK, so i threw a MAF in her this morning. Brand new Bosch (cost me $254.65 with core- Lets see what happens now....

__________________
My Work:
Mercedes-Benz Manhattan, Inc.
Business Development
536 West 41st Street
New York, NY 10036

-My Garage-
1996 E320: White 118,000 miles ~Dad's Driver~
1996 E320: Green 109,000 miles ~Mom's Driver~
~My Babies~
2000 SL500: Desert Sand 96,000 miles
-Previoulsy Judge Judy's-
2008 E350 4MATIC Sport
-Flint Grey/ Ash/ Black Birds Eye Maple-

Doesn't the '96 have OBDII? You should have scanned it for codes...even if it did not throw a CEL it doesn't mean there is not a stored code that could have given you a clue as to what is wrong. I would think if it was the MAF it would have thrown a CEL, so I would strongly suspect that part was not the problem, but you might still see if you can scan it (autozone will loan you a scanner free) and see if there are any stored codes.

I never would throw a $250+ part at a problem unless I was 90%+ sure that would fix it...I'd sooner pay the dealer an hour's diagnostic time to actually find what's wrong before replacing an expensive part and not fixing it...

__________________
Marty D.

2013 C300 4Matic
1984 BMW 733i
2013 Lincoln MKz