Ok, so would you... ?

[walktheboard]

1988 325i.
bosch 173 and/or chipped 153.

On the way to school yesterday I was driving normally and the car started to act like it was dying... not running on all cylinders it felt like. It acted that way for a good 5 minutes, then went back to normal.
After school I drove a good 30 miles with the car running fine. On the way home from work it started having that problem again, but never went back to normal. Sounded like a Subaru, shook a good bit, and felt underpowered like it was running on 2-3 cylinders.
I "fixed" it(for now) with a valve adjustment??? would this be logical or no?

Things to note:
Coolant temp sensor is broken(I think this is my cold start issue?)
replaced AFM
checked the plugs, they get power.
smelled fuel on all spark plugs when I took them out.

I've searched and searched and found a good bit of similar problems, but none were "fixed" by a valve adjustment

[e30Matt]

Main relay went bad on my car, would cause weird things like that to happen. Swapped it probably a year and a half ago and no problems since.

[walktheboard]

I'll check that tomorrow.
tried driving to school today and got about a mile before the problem came back.
crank/throttle position sensor?
coolant temp sensor?
maybe a bad ground somewhere???
I'm really stumped on this one.

edit: does anyone know what average running temperature is? bentley says thermostat opens at 176* F.
I'm running around 190+5/-15

[e30Matt]

Could be the crank position sensor. Check the main relay first though.

[txtorquemade]

O2 sensor
Coolant temp sensor
AFM
cam/crank position sensor(s)

[884door]

You're within normal temp range. As stated definitely swap the main relay. Other things I'd try are crank pos. sensor, distributor and plugs/wires.

[walktheboard]

I'm getting a new main relay, and o2 sensor tomorrow or monday, I replaced the coolant temp sensor(s?). hopefully find a cure. I'm also going to check ground wires tomorrow.

[walktheboard]

so I think I solved my problems...
I found loose injector plug, wow...
also, the dash problem was a short from 2 wires in the gear selector area... now I have a constant check engine light. no coded flashes, just constant flashes
edit: but it runs perfect, aside from bouncy idle when warming up