Locating the ICV

[bloodsnot]

Is the "Additional Air Slide Valve" equivalent to the oft-mentioned Idle Control Valve? It's listed by RealOEM as #11 in this diagram:



Any input would be most appreciated. Thanks!

[Andy348]

Ill wait for more knowledgeable people to chime in, but in my experience ICVs are found either on a mouting bolt attached to the valve cover (ETA) or coming off the intake elbow, closer to the throttle body.

What year is the car?

[BMW_325i]

I am guessing you have an early model 320i or 323i with l-jetronic fuel injection?

Either way, yes, that is the older equivalent of an idle control valve in Motronic engines.

Also known as a warm up regulator.

[E30_fiend]

#11 in the pic is a cold start valve. Its not exactly the same thing as an ICV but their functions are somewhat related.

Do you have a pic of your motor? We can definitely locate it for you if we had a pic to look at.

[bloodsnot]

Thanks everyone for your input. Apologies for not responding until now - spent my weekend in the garage and away from the internet..

Ill wait for more knowledgeable people to chime in, but in my experience ICVs are found either on a mouting bolt attached to the valve cover (ETA) or coming off the intake elbow, closer to the throttle body.

What year is the car?

I am guessing you have an early model 320i or 323i with l-jetronic fuel injection?

Either way, yes, that is the older equivalent of an idle control valve in Motronic engines.

Also known as a warm up regulator.

Thanks both of you. I probably should've been more specific in my post but yes this is referring to the 323i listed in my sig. It's got L-Jetronic and doesn't seem to have an actual ICV. This "Additional Air Slide Valve" is buried underneath the main intake boot, in between the brake booster and the distributor. Perhaps cold running issues could benefit from this pseudo-ICV being cleaned up some...

#11 in the pic is a cold start valve. Its not exactly the same thing as an ICV but their functions are somewhat related.

Do you have a pic of your motor? We can definitely locate it for you if we had a pic to look at.

I've actually already barked up the CSV tree without much luck. I think that a CSV is more of an additional fuel injector that mounts on the passenger side end plate of the intake manifold and enriches the fuel mixture for all cylinders while the ECU is in cold running/open loop. It's #7 in this diagram:


I ordered one of these because a failed CSV can kill your gas mileage, something I'm still working on (latest venture has been a FPR and now this pseudo-ICV) only to find out that my car doesn't have one! The holes on the manifold where it's supposed to mount are blanked out in my car... A wiser man than I pointed out (via r3v) that they weren't used on 323i's past September of '84 and mine was made in May of '85.

Sooo I suppose I should post my mint-in-box CSV up for sale. I know it fits the M10-equipped 318i :(

Aaanyways, I think this ICV mystery is solved. Thanks everyone! I'll be more specific about the model in future posts and also include pictures where relevant.