1990 325i 5 spd 400 RPM Idle + Stalling Help

[RLGDiesel]

Hi all...last night I started my car up and noticed that it was struggling to run. The idle was at 400 RPM and if I revved it up it would stall or almost stall as the RPMs came back down. At first I thought it must be a problem with the ICV since my idle was slowly going up to 800-1K at stoplights earlier that day. I cleaned it with throttle body cleaner, shook it up several times, let it dry, and put it back in the car. Same symptoms. I then started looking for vacuum leaks. The air intake boot looks fine, ICV hose OK (small 2mm crack near the end that's been there for over a year), and vent tube is good. I sprayed some throttle body cleaner around the engine to hear a change in engine speed with no luck.

Here's what I think is left...PLEASE HELP!!

> Injector o-rings leaking
> Intake manifold gasket leaking (esp near #6 cylinder is common apparently)
> TPS?!?!

Where do I start now?

Thanks!!

[dnguyen1963]

smoke test, baby...

[bmwguy325is]

Sounds like a vaccum leak to me.

[jlevie]

Yep, have the intake smoke tested.

[RLGDiesel]

Oops...no vacuum leaks found...valve cover is off under the suspicion that valves might have been tight.

EDIT: Valves actually very loose...adjusted properly...waiting for new valve cover gasket to test if symptoms are better.

Any more ideas?

[RLGDiesel]

Problem was TPS...

fixed a year ago but wanted to update for those with similar symptoms