mass airflow p0101 fault / she's mad/attention required
 

My wife's 96 C220 has its check engine lite on. The performance differs from normal in two regards. First, the engine surges to 1200 rpm two to three times when starting. Secondly, the car occasionally stalls at a stop. A db2 tester demonstrates a fault code of p0101. This code indicated a hot film mass air sensor "circuit malfunction". I have wiggled around the plug wire on the premise that the wire harness can be the problem.
I have disconnected the plug from the air sensor. I believe that the car ran better. I questioned this since I would have expected the opposite. How can I be certain that this problem requires the replacement of this expensive sensor. Can a volt /ohm meter help show a weakness ? If a part is required, like the air mass sensor, the part 000-094-00-48 does not appear to be available with the vendor of this excellent service.