new to bmw and problems with them

[jayrays]

Hey friends I got out of the Honda game to pursue the satisfaction of owning the ultimate driving machine. I have searched this site and others regarding issues I am having with my 1992 325i,(damn this car is sexy). I have read that if you turn your ignition key to it's second position you can hit the gas pedal five times within five seconds and you will start to receive error codes, but of course my car didn't react at all. When I purchased this beautiful black on black 5 speed coupe beauty the old owner said the only problem with the car is the mass air flow sensor, he demonstrated the problem by unscrewing the plug to the M.A.F. and the idle of the car went from a rough idle almost like a cammed engine to a more regular idle, screwed it back in and the issue started( this to me is not much of a pro diagnosis). Regardless being a poor working med student I don't have a lot of time to fool around so I purchased a new moderately priced M.A.F and I am waiting to receive the part. I have also read that to reset the computer I have to hold the gas pedal down for ten seconds after the last code of all clear, is this the case?. My questions are as follows
1) Can I drive the car without the M.A.F connected for a short period of time or will this damage the engine?
2)Is the example I was shown regarding the issue with the M.A.F even directly related to the M.A.F at all?
3)The five stomps on the gas pedal within five seconds the correct way to receive the codes. If yes why would i not receive them?
Thank you all for your time and knowledge

[Nizzle508]

Well, the mass air flow sensor is a unit with these tiny wires that read how much air flow goes in, that tells the engine what's going on as you're driving so if you're going fast it won't read what's going on and could mess something up, wait a bit new E36 buddy I'm in the same boat and this is one car you do not want to trash up like people do with Hondas :)