just deleted the mess under the intake and still have a bad idle....

[3bvert]

the icv can be serviced to a point, you can take it off, spray the crap out of the internals with carb cleaner ( or the like) and free it up, sometimes they get sticky. a loose connection will too.
look at the fuel pimp, well "looking" wont help, checking with a meter will.
how about the fuel filter


removing the fuel rail, and bumping an injector can cause an old dry seal to finally give up

also another spot ( from experience) is the big "boot" going from the afm to the intake gets brittle with age, and removing and handling can put a crack in an old one, thus causing your symptoms too

so like has been advisied, carb cleaner/starting fluid sprayed around will find intake leaks

otherwise its the muffler bearings

[Mike The Bavarian]

Get a can of starting fluid and start spraying it around all the hoses and fittings, if the idle jumps you'll know you've got a vacuum leak

I'm gonna do that when my friend finally decides he's going to take the can over. haha. but i think my icv might be going and my fuel pump looks pretty old. I needa check the service records to see then it was last done.

[CorvallisBMW]

Get a can of starting fluid and start spraying it around all the hoses and fittings, if the idle jumps you'll know you've got a vacuum leak

[ISB E30]

Is the ICV flowing in the right direction? Mine was fine after I did the mess clean up.

[Mike The Bavarian]

yup. fuel pressure reg is hooked up and the vavle cover to the bottom of the TB. and then the icv to the intake boot. I read that this happened to a couple other people for alittle while and then it went away. Also, none of my lines are collapsing, that's not the problem.

[ISB E30]

Did you hook up the fuel pressure regulator and the vent on the valve cover to vacuum?

[Mike The Bavarian]

I took them out.

[ISB E30]

When you cleaned up the mess, did you remove the throttle body plate as well or did you leave it in?

[Mike The Bavarian]

Ok, so i deleted the mess under the intake finally.
all brand new hoses and gaskets. ect ect. And yes they're all connected to the right place, I like quadrouople checked.
But here's the thing when i first started my car a check engine light was on and it ran fine. then I reved it to around 2k-2.5k and the light went away and my idle got worse then it was with my vacuum leaks. could a timing chain tensioner cause this? I really don't know what it is.
I heard it's common that a few other peoples cars have done this.