I’m all for people working on their own car but Reggie sounds like your abit in familiar with parts of your engine, I’d suggest someone coming to you or safely getting the car to someone that knows what they are doing. With cooling issues if not worked right you could kill the engine or hurt yourself.
Assuming the top and bottom hose is the same then the thermostat is opened.
Could be air in the system and if so that should be easily fixed.
I’ve not heard of maf sensor causing heating but regardless it’s 5mins to pull out and clean and yes should be done every 5000km it’s cheap, fast and simple to do.