I have bad Maf. Runs great when unplugged

[machinegundrew]

so i noticed that my 2002 BMW 530i has alot of trouble idling and eventually cuts itself off. i did alot of research and was led to believe this is due to a bad MAF (mass air flow) sensor.
when i unplug the sensor the car seems to run great. are there any repercussions in running without one?

the only problem is the price on the sensor. before i spend this much i wanted to know if i could possibly get one used anywhere? is there any way to guarantee this is the issue?
also told i may have vaccuum leak is there any way to tell?

huge thanks to all willing to help!!
i love this car!!

[bcromwell]

Ebay used is about 30$ or you can get new 30$ 'knock off' but no idea if they are any good.

I would verify you don't have a tear in the air intake boot. Mine tore one morning and had a massive hole causing the car to run like crap

[machinegundrew]

are the used MAF sensors oem? and yea i bought one of these "knock offs" and installed it... car ran even worse when i plugged it in. where would i even look for rips ?

[machinegundrew]

i definitely dont see an oem sensor on ebay for 30$ i bought one of the knock offs and it actually made the car run worse.
i reinstalled the old one and i am running with it unplugged for now... can this cause anything bad?

[bcromwell]

Sounds like a bad air leak then. Will not hurt anything to run without maf but gas mileage will suffer

[machinegundrew]

update* so i ordered a new siemens oem maf sensor and the mass air intake boot behind it as it was ripped.
i replaced both parts but the car still has a very rough idle that leads to a stall. there are no visible air leaks... any other suggestions as to what it could be?