I had the plugs out and decided to pressurize the intake and found that there is air escaping through the #2 and #6 spark plug holes.
Is this just a function of the particular place in the cycle the crank/cams happens to be? In other words if I turned the crank some arbitrary number of degrees the air would show up in different cylinders?

 

yep!

 

Craig,

For this reason I think you need to have the plugs in for this task. Chances are, wherever you choose to park the crank, some valves will be open. If the plugs are in, then it will seal because in no cylinder (obviously) will the intake and exhaust be open simultaneously.

OTOH you could just put the plugs in the ones that have open valves.

Here's a thought: You could use the pressure gauge that is used for checking for compression to test for intake pressure if your other setup doesn't have one. Just screw it into #2 or #6 and put the plug in the other one.

WSM says .3 bar I think which is just under 5 psi.

 

Thanks guys.
I've pressurized the intake at least 5 times now, only the last time were the plugs out. So far I've found no leak. If I hook my air tank up to the fitting sealed at the MAF inlet, pressure regulator set for 20 lbs., the air in the tank will empty through the engine after around 10 minutes.

I'm beginning to think my problems are not caused by false air entering the intake.
I guess it's time to flip a coin and order either a new MAF or new LH ECU.