Doh! Surging idle after working near Motronic controller.

[Jay Karolyi <karolyi74@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi all,

Thanks for the responses regarding convertible top care and leather dye.  I 
think I will go with the Leatherique dye for my blue leather.  Anyone have 
experience/tips with this product?

I learned an important lesson today...never play around near the Motronic 
controller under the dash!!!    I was running a wire under the glove box 
near the controller unit for my stereo.  In fact I ran the wire through the 
same firewall grommet that the controller wire loom goes through.  I must 
have jostled something loose, because now my idle jumps between 500 and 800 
RPMs at about 1 second intervals, and at times feels like it wants to 
stall.  The engine isn't missing or anything, and the car runs just as 
strong as ever.  Does it cold or hot, and sometimes it idles just fine.  If 
it's idling fine I can trigger the surging idle by tapping throttle a 
little.   If you let it hunt around a bit, it settles into a normal idle again.

My question is, what could I have jarred loose messing around up near the 
controller on an '88 325i Cabriolet?  I did disconnect the battery while 
working on the stereo wiring, does that "reset" the controller?  I also was 
messing around in the battery area trying to fish the wire 
through.  Anything there to check?  To try and fix the problem, I made sure 
all the connections under the dash were tight, and I disconnected and 
reconnected the controller unit (after disconnecting the battery of 
course).  I also disconnected my stereo (including the wire I ran near the 
controller wire loom) to see if that was the problem.   No dice.  This car 
ran PERFECT before, I'm so mad at myself for messing it up for a stupid 
stereo wire.   Doh!!!

Please reply to my email address, the digests aren't making it into my 
mailbox for some reason. Any help is VERY much appreciated.

Jay Karolyi
karolyi74@domain.elided
'88 325i Cabriolet, royalblau metallic

------------------------------