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E30 Idle Problem



OK I had a perfectly good running car ( 86 325ES) before  cleaning the
airflow sensor, throttle body and idle control valve. The symptoms are that
the car idles poorly by hunting from 750 to 1200-1500 rpms once warm. Also
it will idle at time up to 2000-2500 rpms with no kick down or kick down
only once in a while.
Here is what I did to try and correct the problem. I pulled the cover off
the air flow sensor and tried to adjust the flapper door for more tension (5
clicks at a time). This just made the car run very lean. It did not correct
the idle hunting problem. I also tried to adjust the idle control valve to
the lowest idle setting. It was already only 1/2 turn from the bottom
setting. No help here. I also pulled the throttle body and with a good ohm
meter tried to set the idle switch to specs. I was unable to get it to specs
as it seemed to jump quite a bit. I did open it up and check for operation
and looked fine. However I don't know if this is the problem.
Initially the car will run fine. Once it warms up the idle will either go up
and stay there for a long time before falling back into a hunting mode or
just stay there. I played with the idle switch and it will keep the idle low
but will still hunt on the lowest setting and will allow the engine to race
if moved to the other extreme. I also pulled off the idle control valve two
pin connector and saw the engine rpms increase substantially. I first only
cleaned only the air flow sensor and throttle body and the symptoms were
there and did not improve by cleaning (correctly) the idle control valve.
It did this cleaning before I replaced the temperature sensor that feeds the
temperature gage and continues to do so. I have followed the suggestions in
the BMW Enthusiast and looked over my Bentley.
I need suggestions.
Thanks

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