So, After searching the forums

Symptoms are

1. Turbo spools up fine gets going at around 1800 RPM and cuts out at just over 3000rpm (well this is where the power levels off) i believe, no real lag, can feel a push but just no real go (was overtaken by a transit van).

2. Shes eating a good bit of diesel, only getting about 350 miles out of a tank and i'm not doing that much city driving.

3. Power output seems intermittent, sometimes theres more go than others (even if only slightly) but this could be the way i'm hitting the gears.

Would anyone be able to point me to a guide of how to do it .. Is there torx screwdrivers i need to get ?

Would really appreciate the help ... must say i'm delighted with the car otherwise, would definetly go for another Skoda

Saw that someone suggested disconnecting the cable on the MAF to test if the sensor is the issue, so i did this, and the engine is much more responsive, less transit van and more oomph.

Its showing 25mpg though ... which i assume is because the reading is of the scale and its pumping as much diesel as it can into the injectors.

So its it worth trying to clean it or just get a new MAF ? I also heard you can stick on a Mercedes MAF, but it has to be peared down or something.

How much will it cost to get a new one ? It looks pretty easy to remove, just attached to the Airbox with some screws...

i think the MAFs are sold on an exchange basis at the dealers , it does sound like it is faulty , but ideally you should have the fault codes read first before spending the money on parts that may not fix your problem

Your symptoms sound pretty much the same as those I experienced when the MAF went, other than I experienced slightly increased MPG (Decided things had to be done after getting mullered by a friends 1992 1.4 fiesta). If your car is injecting extra fuel then is there alot more smoke now than before the problems began?

I'd definately get a VAGCOM on the car as suggested already.

It is probably also worth checking that your airfilter is nice and clean and there are no leaves etc clogging up the intake.

Unplug the MAF. If it doesn't perform much worse, the MAF is probably stuffed, unless you have an intake blockage.

A dodgy MAF will not always record a fault code. Only certain diags with VAG-COM is by data logging expected MAF readings against actual on a good thrash round the block at full throttle.