Cleaned MAF, and car is slow again :(

[McDub]

I saw a can of CRC Mass air flow cleaner at the auto shop, and decided to get it as i heard that these things can be problematic on our cars. i've also noticed my fuel economy decrease over the last year so i thought this might help.
boy was i wrong.

i took it out, sprayed it a few times (i assume it's an alcohol type solvent), and let it dry as per the instructions. put it back in the air box, tightened up the hose clamp on the TIP, and reconnected the power lead to the MAF. Only issue really was getting the top of the air box back on, was a bit of a struggle, and i can actually see a little bit of the red rubber from the air filter sticking out where the box looks a little bowed in the middle...

anyway, i turned the car on, and she seemed good after a quick drive around the block. i drive it a few hours later (after a good in and out clean of the car), and realised that it wasn't driving right, it seemed i had lost all my boost! I got this car chipped with a unitronic stage 1 flash a few weeks ago, and that huge surge of power i would get around 2-3000revs was almost non existant. (note, this is the only mod i have to my '03 gti)
It felt like it had gone back to the boring stock program with no grunt

i was hoping that i was just imagining it, but i'm convinced somethings gone wrong. i did a test today, and unplugged the connection to the MAF, and the car started fine, with no warning lights (apparantly because it's not drive by wire as seb said), and i took it for a drive, and it still drove somehow, and felt just as it had when it was plugged in.

I don't have time untill the weekend to take it to seb, but i gave him a quick buzz this avo and he suggested disconnecting the battery because the car might have gone into limp(?) mode... but i'd describe it more as lame stock mode...

anyway, i tried a quick dissconnect, nothing. then a 2+ hour disconnect to reset the ecu, but still no change to the performance.

So what do you think happened?
Did i take the very last bit of life out of my MAF?

My only other thoughts are that possibly when fighting with the MAF removal/reinstallation, i created an air leak somewhere? like maybe somewhere on the TIP, or maybe the top of the air box isn't on right.
only other thing i can think of is i might have pulled on the two cables that go past the air box, one of which i think is the throttle cable, and perhaps i've limited the max throttle position??
I'm positive i put the power lead back on properly so i no longer think thats the problem...

I'm just hoping the MAF is ok, don't think they're cheap.


BTW, todays lesson, if it aint broke, don't try fix it


Oh one more thing which freaked me out tonight, i locked the car, started to walk away, but could hear a fan sound coming out of my car!!!!
I thought i was imagining it, but no, i popped the hood, and i could feel air being blown up from the front of the car, i couldn't see what was on because it was dark, but i put the key in, started the car again and turned it off, and then this mysterious fan stopped...??? Is this related?