My 87 stalls when the engine is cold and it is idling at lights or stop signs. Just like turning it off with a key. It always retarts just fine. Once its warm its fine. Changed the ICV without effect. No diagnostic codes to trace. Any help would be appreciated.
They possibilities are not endless, but there are a bunch of them (these are a few of my guesses): 1. Camshaft position sensor could be bad, and I bet this is the case from your description that the car starts again everytime. 2. Electrical system problems: Faulty grounds, Alternator failure, even a loose battery terminal could lead to intermittent engine stalling. 3. Could be vapor lock, or a bad fuel filter/relay. Fuel filters are reasonably inexpensive, and should be repalced preventively anyway...Changing them on the maintenance schedule is usually affordable and a good idea. You need a Bentley manual and a good voltmeter to diagnose the problem. I would suggest paying attention to your idle, both at stop signs where the car dies, and when you restart the egnine...does it spike? does it wobble? This could indicate the culprit without any tools! I believe there is also an operating temperature sensor on your car that may be faulty - this sensor indicates the temperature of your engine to the ECU, and if it is faulty and sending incorrect information, it may prompt a stall. Sorry if that was not really very helpful, but I think I might have given you a few thigns to check.
Check for vacuum leaks. You can do this with a can of carb cleaner (AT YOUR OWN RISK-DON'T SPRAY INTO ALTERNATOR!!) and see if the idle picks up a little. Suspect areas for vacuum leaks on an E30 325i are the intake boot, any small vacuum line coming off the intake (there are only a couple) and the idle hoses.
