I'm fully aware of this!

As I SAID, this is an INTERMITTENT problem. It's impossible to troubleshoot something that is not broken when you're trying to troubleshoot. If it would fail and stay failed then I could indeed run through the process. I would probably have a code set at the time to start with. I can only HOPE that it will do this and keep doing it.

With an intermittent about all you can do is replace likely culprits and see if the problem goes away.

No it runs fine and perfect. Pull up to stop or kick in the clutch and put it in neutral to coast to a stop and it dies. It starts right up but will not idle. You can take off and go down the road just fine and then the next time you come to a stop it might very well be just fine.

BTW, it got 27MPG on the last tank of fuel.

It hasn't done this when I'm at home near my code drawing stuff.

This is not a bad thing to do. I already replaced all the fuses with the updated fuse kit. It would never hurt to clean contacts, although it doesn't seem that this would cause such an off or on type situation.

When mine had idle issues/stalled it was due to the crank position sensor, and along the way I cleaned the idle air valve and replaced the hoses. After that it was doing way better....has never stalled since in 2+ years....

Have you checked the throttle position microswitches?

-J

If I can catch it in the act, I will check all these things. It hasn't hick upped since I started this thread.

I HATE intermittent problems. At least this is not one that will strand me somewhere.

Thanks for all the posts and information!

Well the car has been idling perfect and running perfect ever since the day of my last post on this thread.

I had to drive to the Dallas area to do some things for my elderly Mom on Saturday. It was mostly a tollroad trip, but when I hit the few stoplights I had to deal with over there it stopped idling. So at that point it was being caught in the act, but I didn't have my LED box to check for codes or much of anything else to do any troubleshooting with. I had the airflow sensor that I bought in the car and thought I had enough tools to change it, but there is a can of some sort with three fittings that is in the way of one of the screws holdiing the airflow position sensor in place.

I did manage to check static voltage at the sensor and it was okay. Since it would not idle, I could not check it that way, but I did check the voltage range watching it as I slowly opened the air valve. It appeared to be reasonable. By pushing the valve open ever so slightly, I could get the right voltage on the sensor.

So I hassled my way through the stoplights and back onto the tollroads last night and then made it on home late. I started it up this morning and drove it to work and it ran and idled perfectly again.

I would rather something burn to a crisp than to be intermittent. Catching it in the act is very frustrating.

Did you buy that air flow piece from ebay? I am curious if that will help cold start problems.

Worn tracks case tons of grief on these older BMWs from the '80s... guess who made that EFI system? Bosch. Air Flow Meter (AFM) - from "The 944 Motronic DME" by FR Wilk* ©2001 www.the944.com

They can be 'tweaked' so you can be on fresh carbon. I wonder if this too is possible for the MB units? :confused: I am fighting with the usual CIS cold start condition of start up, die, restart, idle.

The car was still running and idling perfect, but I had bought an Airflow Position Sensor since MBDoc said that it will sometimes go intermittent.

I replaced it this morning. Except for not being able to get one of the plastic screw covers back in place it all went well. The idle is good, but I figure I will have to drive it a month without problems before I can say that it fixed the problem.

AGAIN, I HATE intermittent problems.