Is this possible?

[LLL]

Last week I had a problem with lack of power. Replacing the MAF solved this.
Car now pulls well. But, interesting, with the "new" MAF I noticed some more
power, car pulls 20 - 30% better than before (with the old MAF before it
broke down). Is it possible that the old sensor was limiting (trough the ECU)
fuel delivery? Also, I notice less smoke during acceleration... Opinions?

 

[rdkern]

A bad MAF will read too little air coming in (usually) which will cause the ecu to limit fueling.

Less smoke during acceleration seems odd to me. I bet someone will give an explanation as to how this can happen.

 

[LLL]

I was satisfied with the old MAF, too, before it broke down. Now it's amazing.

 

[Digital Corpus]

I've use electrical contact and MAF cleaners on mine without damage. I don't recall if you have upsides injectors, but even if you try it properly, you can get it to smoke. It's an uncommon failure mode, but failure nonetheless.

Drive more worry less?