1995 850 starts, then 5 seconds in sputters to stall

[estipe]

I should have mentioned, I'm paying them for a diagnostic service, I did troubleshoot the MAF, and told them along with the other things I had done to try and isolate the problem.

They came back instead of saying "your MAF is actually bad" or "you have a vacuum leak" and said "let's replace all of these parts you already mentioned us".

For the money I am paying them for a diagnostic service I guess I just am surprised they didn't actually tell me what was wrong. I don't think they are trying to save me money.

I'm also looking to change up this 850 for a different one, so I'm not looking to replace things I don't necessarily need to at this point.

[erikv11]

You have properly tested the MAF (yes they mean the sensor and housing), I really don't think it is the problem. Personally I would swap in a known working one to be absolutely sure, is there junkyard nearby? Basically every 850 at the yard has a good MAF (make sure it is Bosch though), 95-98 all cars turbo or not use the same one.

Inspect vacuum hoses with eyes and/or propane gas or starting fluid, google it.

The shop is guessing, those are the same guesses you have heard here because they are decent ones The MAF, air filter, vac lines, throttle body cleaning all relate obviously to the problem and are routine maintenance, the fuel in oil is probably because the engine has been flooding a bit with the recent problem, the oil trap service needs to be done on most 95 850s at this point but you are right is not likely the main issue.