Dear Wrencheads,

Whilst sorting out a recently acquired 325e with105k miles with an idle surge, I became aware of errors in the bentley manual. I am a meticulous mechanic and I assumed that these service manuals are carefully written . Well, the fuel injection chapter has some errors that probably has caused much wasted time,unecessary component replacement for many and frustration............

This information applies to an 86 eta engine with Motronic 1.0 and automatic trans. This car has no vacumm leaks,no exhaust leaks and perfectly adjusted valves.

1. The 3 wire throttle position switch only has one switched on position which is at idle. If this switch is mis adjusted, you have no idle circuit at idle. (There is no WOT switch)

2.The throttle plate adjustment with a .0015 thousands of an inch feeler gauge doesn't work as well as backing off the screw until the throttle is fully closed and then turning the screw in about 2-3 turns.

3. The 460 milliamps spec on the idle control valve is another red herring. Turn the screw to the bottom of its stop and then back it out 1-2 turns. The idle control valve is now pulling about 500 milliamps. (btw, it was decarbonised and checked to see that it was working properly) Car was now idling at about 650-700 rpm perfectly. At the ICV 460 milliamps specification the car was idling at about 1100 rpm.

If any of ye have a different opinion......go ahead make my day. Btw, what are the factory manuals like?

Regards,
Henri Baccouche
Los Angeles