I have a 97 Deville and I get the service engine soon light whenever I floor it completely from a stop or slow speed. I mainly do this/notice in a spot where there's just a little stretch before a steep hill to get up some momentum, plus it's a good spot to burn off some carbon.

Anyhoo, as long as I don't do that again, the code/light goes away after the 4-srtart thing. The code is P0101, which I've checked is mass air flow sensor range.

I'm just curious if this is a symptom of the actual sensor, or the relay or something else. I'm service-manual-less on this car for the moment...

I almost was thinking that perhaps flooring it quickly sucked so much air in that it was just a really quick change in the airflow so it threw it off, but it seems rather silly, now that I think of it, for it to be normal to trip a code.
Anyway, just would like a little help from those with a little more experience with the Northstar here... I don't want to cough up 100 bucks for the sensor if it's not the problem, seeing as there's a relay for it too.

A good place to start with an MAF code is to clean it. http://www.cadillacforums.com/forums/cadillac-tech-tips/66742-how-clean-throttle-body.html

There is no relay for the MAF sensor. You didn't remove the airflow straightener did you? WOT should not cause it to malfunction either. My guess is the sensor is bad.

L I B... That makes so much sense now that I know where it is :-D...I was picturing something on/in the manifold... Thanks. I'll check it later and report back.

Ranger...thanks, but no, I haven't even touched it yet. In fact, I have to wait to take a peek because my girlfriend has it at the moment :annoyed:. I see about the relay...I wasn't thinking...just browsing through the rockauto catalogue...and I forget that they often put parts which your car doesn't have. I guess it's for people modding or something, but yeah, I remember finding a performance carburetor for my 90 on that site as well...:duck:

What kind of air filter? Brand?

AJ's question is valid: A restricted or restrictive air filter will cause a momentary manifold high vacuum signal which will trigger an airflow fault.