missing/rough running

[8cam]

My Z has developed an issue with a slight miss. I know step one is to pull the codes and I'll do that tonight, but I'm posting while everything is fresh. It was running fine on the drive into work last week but then when I started it to go home, it was clearly not happy. Definitely missing on at least one cylinder, and there was a noticeable hitch in the idle. This happened in either normal or full power mode, and at times the idle or very light throttle seems almost normal.

Use a very light throttle and it will accelerate smoothly all the way up. In full power mode with a light throttle, you might not know anything is wrong. However anything more than crack the throttle, and the computer cuts the engine power and it almost sounds like an old Beetle. So it knows something is wrong. Try to rev the engine at idle and it's like an old carb that needs a good cleaning.

I didn't have a chance to look into it over the weekend, so took a quick look this afternoon. When I opened the hood first thing I noticed was the intake boot had popped off the air filter assembly. Well duh. So I put it back on and made sure the clamp was tight. First thought was the computer had put the car in limp mode because of the boot. So I disconnected the battery for a while, then reconnected and drove it for a few miles hoping it would simply relearn. Nope, still not right. So tonight I'll pull the codes and start following the procedure in the WSM, but if you guys have any pointers please let me know. Thanks!