What Fred said ^^ Cleaning worked wonders. But the JDS site says just removing and reconnecting the 6 pin plug can make a big difference. If so, then oxidation and increased resistance of the pin(s) in charge of heating the wires for the burn off may have increased resistance and be the actual culprit (a la oxidized fuse connections in the CE panel). However, I did not see any signs of heating in the connections.

Depending on the phase of the moon and prevailing wind direction with unfinished Xmas shopping I'd likely agree 100% with Jason. But if it's a full moon in the Frenzy hotel parking lot and Stan asks me to hold his beer while he swaps in a good MAF and turns to the cars owner and says "Do you have AAA?" Then I'm likely to agree 100% with Stan. This is the eternal 928 ownership conundrum.

 

If you decide to check the MAF after shutting down the car to see if it is entering into self cleaning mode properly, I recommend taking off the filter cover, but leaving the filter laying in the tray, covering the MAF. That way you can very easily pull it out of there to see the MAF, but the filter will still be in place to keep any debris from being sucked into the motor. Of course, don't drive it like that Realistically, if you're quick, you could also get the cover and filter removed in under 20 seconds from when you turn the key off.

 

I had a similar issue about 3 years ago. While driving to work, the car started to hesitate, forcing me to pull over. The car went into limp mode, luckily allowing me to finish the drive...slowly. After troubleshooting, I was able to unplug the MAF and drive it home. Once home, I cleaned the MAF with a can of MAF cleaner... it as been 3 years with no issues.

The only thing I can think of is the previous owners used K&N filters and the oil covered the filament to the point it was giving erroneous readings.

 

The burn off cycle will require the airfilter to be off the housing,
its best to have a helper to turn off the ignition while you look into the MAF inlet,
as the burn cycle starts rather quickly after the key is turned off.
Working in a darker garage also helps to see the wire turn red

 

..and don’t add MAF cleaner when the wire is glowing red.