Air Flow Meter, causing problems?

[M5power]

hey, well i was told by a few that it could be my AFM? is that true? how can i tell? but yeah, i cleaned out my Idle Control Valve with carburator cleaner and WD40, didn't change; got a new fuel regulator, didn't change; im down to either my TPS or my AFM. Which one would be more likely to cause this problem. ok, heres what happens:
I start it up after not being on for a while and i have to keep the gas down for a while. After i start driving it'll hesitate and come to a complete stop even when pushing on the gas, then it'll start go. when i come to a stop after driving it, the idle will move up and down from 500rpms-700rpms; yeah really low...
When i accellerate it'll hesitate ALOT and its horrible, my car barely moves it seems like, well it moves but just not as fast as usual. u can see the Tach and the speedo hesitate as well, and the car move so slow..I didn't think that my throttle position sensor could cause THIS KIND of idling problem OR accelleration problem, but i dunno about them. The AFM could seem like it, but before i go out buying one that works i wanna make sure this is the right thing. thanks for the help!

[njtech]

My first suggestion would be to buy a manual by Bentley, if you are going to try and fix your own car. The idle problem can be the valve, did you make sure the slide is free? Are the vacume lines and breather hoses intact? Is the throttle body clean? Did you check the intake boot for cracks? Before you condem the AFM (which is a very expensive guess) did you eliminate other possible causes? Fuel pressure, fuel filter, weak spark, spark plugs, wires, distb. cap/rotor? These are all things that can cause your symptoms. The Bentley maual will also give you the voltage values for the AFM, so you can test it and be sure. HTH
Steve

[M5power]

well, i have done alot of changing on my car, new spark plugs, new wires, new distributor and rotor, i cleaned the Idle control valve, the intake boot is new, i have all new vaccum hoses, new fuel regulator, new fuel lines, and no cracks in the throttle body. so i've pretty much narrowed it down.

[njtech]

Since you have it narrowed down......good luck.

[E28boi]

When it does stutter do you see black smoke coming out of the exhaust? There is a flap in the AFM that tends to stick. Check it.

[M5power]

whenever i rev my engine i can see some black smoke.

What i found out today though is that my spark plugs are all covered in a white looking ash that looks horrible. is this my PROBLEM? or is it just telling me that my cars messed up??

[CiscoKid]

its not a good thing... look in the back of the hayes manuals and compare... it will tell you what is going on insde the engine based on what your spark plugs look like

replace the plugs... asap

[E28boi]

The ash is just a result of fuel or oil additives. I suspect your AFM is bad. If your flap moves freely, pop of the bottom cover (black) on your AFM and use some WD-40 to clean the copper contact piece. This worked for me after my car got flooded a few years back.

[M5power]

alrite kool, thanks alot. but yeah i got some NGK spark plugs today and ima install them tomorrow afternoon, will also clean out the afm. so if its ok then it should move freely rite?

[M5power]

Could a throttle position switch cause this problem?? the idle and accelleration problem.