I intentionally left the MAF unplugged just to see/experience what would happen. Of course it threw a CEL on initial start-up but I figured long as I had my Fuel/air ratio gauge hooked up I wouldn't flog it if anything threatened to go out of spec. And if the CEL started flashing I'd limp/coast the 8-9 blocks home. Went for a test drive to "feel" how it would react. Car started right up, idled fine, transitioned from 0-rolling start fine and even climbed to redline fine once warmed up. In fact I didn't notice anything weird at all. It ran better than some of yesterdays bleed port mods til I got in the ballpark. Fuel/air gauge showed great ratios and car pulled strong. Only thing that gave it away was the CEL which stayed on all the time but nothing at all weird.

And while I am sure the car responds fine now I'm also sure it's not running perfectly or as well as it could with the MAF online. Tho I can't feel it "seat of pants" but the weather is cool and mild. I'm sure it's backing off on some timing as well as likely enrichening the fuel thruout the spectrum but I'm still a bit puzzled that it runs as well as it does.

Least now I know if I ever have a MAF-related failure I can just unplug it and likely get home from anywhere in the nation. Maybe not with the best MPG I've ever gotten but home safely and at/above the speed limit none-the-less.

Someone said that means the MAF is shot. However, after cleaning the MAF (and the ICV), the idle is pretty good. But if I unplug the MAF, the engine dies. So, is my MAF shot?

I even tried running a straight piece of 3" tubing in place of the MAF and it worked fine too. Hard to imagine a MAF being any more bad/shot than that!

Maybe it's my car thats screwy.

Try starting the car with the MAF disconnected like I did rather than unclipping it while it's running. Maybe that's it... who knows!?!

When I'm working on the MAF I'm keeping the negative battery terminal disconnected during MAF R&R so the ECU will clear itself between runs.

If the car doesn't start with the MAF disconnected try disconnecting the battery for 10-15 mins then try starting it with the MAF disconnected. That should do it.

An Audi technician told me to check the MAF by unplugging it while the engine was running. He said if the engine died, then the MAF was bad. I don't know how a defective part that is being disconnected can stall the engine! Unfortunately, I have no way of contacting that guy again.
When I unplugged the MAF the engine died and I got a CEL. I could not start the engine without the MAF.

I'm scared of screwing up something, though...