M50 vanos idling problem (after head gasket change) NEED HELP!

[DtfwithE30s]

Hey guys I have an m50 vanos in my e30, when I swapped the motor in I got it running (sounded fine) but when I first got it running I had the mAf sensor unplugged because it wouldn't idle when it was plugged in, long story short it needed a head gasket replacement because I noticed a leak.


So now I did the head gasket and tried starting it again and it idles fine at first then it starts jumping up a little bit, the maf is still unplugged also, I try plugging the maf in and it dies..(so bad maf right?) but on the maf there is an arrow with German writing underneath, I assume the arrow goes with the airflow, therefore I had the arrow pointing towards the throttle body, then I tried turning the maf around to where the arrow points at the front of the car and I plug it in and the car idles, but still doesn't seem like it's running right, hopefully this is enough info, any body have any ideas?

[sweet3]

I would say you need a new MAF sensor. The arrow should point in the direction of the air flow (going into the engine).
You will probably find that whenever your car idles fine, your CEL is on. That is probably saying that your MAF isn't wokring and it is now running on a default setting.
Also, if you disconnect the sensor, your CEL will also be on. And it is also now saying that the MAF is not working.
I'm sure a new genuine MAF or a 'good' used genuine MAF will fix the problem.

I actually just experienced a very similar problem with a MAF sensor.