ICV removal/bypass?

[O 16581 72452 5]

Can't find anything searching, figure i'll ask before i waste money on plugs and stuff to cork the open lines that i'll have from removing this. On some cars, i know it's possible to remove this without any issues, wondering if it's possible on these cars. Probably have to leave the unit in there with the wires connected to avoid a CEL i'm assuming?

Car idles crappy and runs like absolute shit when cold and intermittantly runs bad after warmed up, figure i'll start at the cheap/free shit before moving to the AFM, O2, etc.

[Mike325]

Do you mean remove it for diag purposes or to get 100% rid of it?

[O 16581 72452 5]

Just ditch it.

[MrK]

If you think your car idles like crap now, ditch it and see how much worse it'll get, if you can get it to idle at all :D

AFM flappers are notoriously horrible at keeping a smooth idle without an ICV.

[O 16581 72452 5]

I see, the car i removed one on was MAP.

[Julien]

clean the ICV witha tooth brush and some simple green.. works everytime for me.

[Digitalwave]

Instead of fixing it you just want to throw it away? Nice.

[O 16581 72452 5]

Instead of fixing it you just want to throw it away? Nice.

Don't see why not if the car runs fine without one. Like stated before, i blocked off one on one of my cars and the idle was better than ever.

[Mike325]

Idle controle valve. I don't see how it could have a controled idle without this part.

[Axxe]

I've heard of some M20's running around with it bypassed, and a simple manual valve replaced. Never seen one though, so can't give any insight other than my guesstimate of it being a ball valve from home depot or something along those lines. The same source told me that they are used on race-cammed M20's, just set the idle a bit higher with it, the ICV can't manage the aggressive cam anyway.

[Grimm862]

The car will idle without a ICV. My friend had a 86 325 and just plugged up the 2 hoses and it worked fine. Just had to warm up a bit for it to idle good.

[equate975]

I have heard of people bypassing it then turning the throttle adjustment screw up a ways to compensate for it.

[MrK]

the ICV can't manage the aggressive cam anyway.

That's funny, my ICV is 'managing' my race cam just fine

I still don't see a plausible reason for just eliminating it. BMW put it there for a reason no?

[euroshark]

You CAN rig the ICM safely and it will only effect the idle when the motor is cold. This is an old trick I learned from the 5 series community. You drill a ~5.2mm hole in the center of a penny, and attach the penny to the outlet side of the ICV with silicone, duct tape, epoxy (the strongest probably) or a combo of the three. Reattach the rubber hose, unplug the ICV and bam! Perfect idle speed. You might have to help it warm up for the first 30 seconds to a minute with your foot, but after that it's usually ok. I did this in my 533i for two months and never had any trouble!! I've got a picture if you want.

[O 16581 72452 5]

Cool, thanks alot, that's what i wanted to hear.