1990 M20B25 intermittent rough idle, jerky / sputtering acceleration, stalls

[cyckl]

I purchased my 1990 325i a few months ago and originally it ran fine, but over the past month it has developed a few intermittent issues:

- Rough idle (hunting, poor recovery if throttle applied then released)
- Stuttering / jerky behavior when throttle is applied (the wheels will squeak and jolt me forward)
- Anti-lock light sometimes comes on when the car stalls itself
- Usually disappears at high RPM (freeway driving, dumping the clutch)
- Long start times

A lot of these issues happen when the temperature is low or in the days after I've driven the car frequently (or both, since it's December). I usually experience the most issues when taking off from a stop, and have been able to work around it just by dumping the clutch at around 2000-3000 RPM in order to build up enough speed.

I'm suspecting the fuel pump is going bad, but I'm generally lost as to what it could be. The sputtering definitely feels much more violent than if it were just hesitation, since my wheels squeak as if they're losing traction.

Any tips?

[82eye]

first thing is hunt down and eliminate any vacuum leaks. if that doesn't eliminate it run through the engine diagnostics found here :

Diagnostics, tips, & tricks by Jim Levie (E30 Jedi Master) - R3VLimited Forums

[cyckl]

Ran a smoke test with a machine I bought off of Amazon, found smoke coming off of the vent hose connection to the valve cover. I've purchased a silicone vacuum hose kit so we'll see if that results in any noticeable improvement.

Intake boot is also developing hairline cracks so that's on it's way out as well...