The title of your post frightened me there for a moment, thinking you were going to REMOVE your idle control valve! It sounds like your valve is just getting a little sticky. It's a normal thing. With a couple of hours of spare time, you can pull it out, give it a good cleaning and pop it back in and it will likely make your car idle like its brand new again. While you have everything apart, check your intake boot as that little tube that plugs into the ICV is probably developing cracks with age.

 

give it a good clean with some carb cleaner,should do the job.

 

dont wait until it locks up on you and leaves you stranded in LIMP mode ! !

 

As has been said already, remove it from the car, give it a good cleaning with brake/carb cleaner, once your done cleaning it you should be able to hear it clicking freely, and make sure its dry before you re install it. Much better than buying a new one, they can be a little pricey.

 

i'm hving the same problem.... it just randomly stalls on me and i have to give way too much gas to keep it alive, only when cold.

 

Thanks everyone for the advice, I am going to give it a good clean this weekend and hopefully it should be alright from now on

 

I have been getting the exact same symptoms on my 5er. Cleaned the ICV (helped a little with the speed of the idle, increased it a little bit, but that's it), changed the O2 sensor, but the problem remains.

The cause as found by my mechanic is a vacuum leak from the throttle body gasket in between the throttle body and the intake control valve, which is a breeze to replace. The part (few bucks) is in order and I will be replacing it this weekend. To check for the vacuum leaks, get a bottle of engine starter fluid and spray it in different places on your engine while it is running. You'll notice a significant drop/raise in your RPM when you catch one.

Do this before you clean your ICV as it can be a pain in the arse without the results you're after. Good luck.

 

I have been getting the exact same symptoms on my 5er. Cleaned the ICV (helped a little with the speed of the idle, increased it a little bit, but that's it), changed the O2 sensor, but the problem remains.

The cause as found by my mechanic is a vacuum leak from the throttle body gasket in between the throttle body and the intake control valve, which is a breeze to replace. The part (few bucks) is in order and I will be replacing it this weekend.

Would you be able to tell me hte part # for this intake boot? I assume it's not the often discussed intake 'accordion' boot that leads to the MAF is it?

 

What product is recommended to clean the ICV and while i'm at it i might as well clean my MAF what do you guys recommend for products?

 

like the fellas said carb cleaner, not sure if you can use brake cleaner. And cleaning the MAF does make a slight difference

 

The difference between carb cleaner and brake cleaner is that carb cleaner leaves a lubricating residue whereas brake cleaner leaves no residue.

 

There is also throttle body cleaner which is supposed to contain less of the chemicals that can foul sensors. Your call whether to use that or carb cleaner.

When I took mine out (was doing PCV), it was entirely black with soot and carbon. I could barely move the valve with my finger. Once I started cleaning it, I was amazed to find the actual moving part of the valve free-wheels when you spin the ICV body left and right in your hand. Mine was so gunked up it seemed like it was rigid. The cleaning solved every idle problem i ever had, as well as helped my car start up much easier on cold mornings (went from 3 cranks to 1.5)

When you have it out, spray the cleaner in it, move the valve around with your finger, and youll see it starts to get extremely lose. Then just fill it up with carb cleaner and spin it back and forth, dump out the sooty cleaner and repeat til it drips out clean.

You may also want to clean the DISA valve when your in there.. its only two torx bolts and it comes out, use the same cleaner to clean it up. It will also give you a bit more room to see the ICV. You may want to use some type of RTV sealant when you put it back in. I did because mine wasnt tight enough to be sure it wouldnt leak.

I went a bit further and took out the actual throttle bottle for a bit of a cleaning as well. You will see when you're in there that it only takes 4 bolts to get the ICV out as well.

Run your hands on the PCV lines under the manifold when everything is out... look for brittle areas of pipe or leaking oil.

Also- Finally- look down on top of the crank-portion of the engine for oil pooling there. If so, its your PCV or Oil Gasket Housing (I've done both). Now is the best time to see in there

 

There is also throttle body cleaner which is supposed to contain less of the chemicals that can foul sensors. Your call whether to use that or carb cleaner.

I've never quoted myself before. But that was my understanding. Carb cleaner .. not good for the advanced sensors in our engines. I also heard somewhere that it can deteriorate the plastics over time (lots of plastic in/around our engine)

You might want to try seafoam in a vacuum hose (?). It will make your car smoke lke crazy for 5 minutes but its supposed to emulsify/liquify all the nasty carbon and help it get out the engine. Maybe it can get out some of the chemicals that are causing you problems (if thats the reason) I've used it in injected cars before (ford modular V8 in two different cars) and it definitely didnt hurt anything.

 

Can i just use the MaF cleaner to clean the ICV?

 

I dont see why not .. if its safe enough to be sprayed in the intake on the MAF, i would assume its ok for use on the ICV as well.

I would just make sure ita ll evaporates before you put the ICV back in and you should be ok.

It just might not clean as well as the other cleaners, though

 

Ya i just went out and bought Gunk throttle body cleaner and it listed on it that you can clean your idle control sensors, that was after i used the maf cleaner on it which cleaned it up a bit but not nearly as good as the actual throttle body cleaner.

 

ok.....cleaned the ICV this past to now find that the car is running like sh*t now. Sometimes it will stall and the peake's tool is telling me I got a misfire on 1 and 5 also saying something with my pre-cat o2 sensors.

The only thing I can think of is vanos and/or CPS.

 

Just a word of advice......don't use this stuff. I didn't see the small print on the back saying " Not recommended for fuel injected vehicles, use Gum out Air Intake and Throttle Body cleaner"

So is it possible that my error caused all these codes(According to the Peakes R5 FX3 tool):

Table 15

97- Pre Cat 02 Short to ground Cyl#1-3
9A- Pre Cat 02 Short to ground Cyl#4-6
E3- 02 Sensor adaption limit Cyl#1-3
A8- Thermostat jammed open
E4- 02 Sensor adaption limit Cyl#4-6
CA- 02 Sensor control limit Cyl#1-3
C8- 02 Sensor control limit Cyl#4-6
EE- Misfire Cyl#1
F2- Misfire Cyl#5
F0- Misfire Cyl#3

All these codes were created within a 24 hour after I reset it yesterday.
Could the cleaner have f*cked that much stuff? Can I just go back in there with the proper cleaner and problem fixed?

 

So is it possible that my error caused all these codes(According to the Peakes R5 FX3 tool):

Are you 100% postive you had no stored codes before you did this cleaning?

 

on the ICV, the little thing that spins... is it supposed to spin freely?

 

Yes, that is what needs to adjust, mine was jammed before cleaning. And it actually doesn't spin it just turns back and forth.

 

cool. i was always curious about that and never got a clear answer.
thanks

 

Seafoam is the greatest stuff!!!! I use to work at a car shop and I would charge people $30 to do the fuel injection cleaning with Seafoam, everyone loved the results. Last time I cleaned the system was with B&G fuel injection cleaner(through the IVY bottle).

I think what I'm going to do is re-do the ICV cleaning with throttle body cleaner.

Another thing, when I pulled the DISA out it had some gunk on it that I cleaned with that carb cleaner. What does the DISA do?

If the redo cleaning doesn't work I will have no choice but to seafoam the car and flush all that sh*t out of it.

 

I would never use regular carb cleaner for fuel injected engines... like someone said before, they aren't safe for sensors in our cars. I would never use brake cleaner either personally... stick with a maf/throttle body cleaner, and you should be fine, or seafoam it as that stuff is great.

 

I used the Throttle body cleaner for the ICV.

 

I'm not sure what part he is referring to between the TS and ICV.

Anyways......try this link http://www.realoem.com/bmw/partgrp.do?model=BM53&mospid=47712&hg=13&fg=15

 

not sure which is beng referred to...

#5 here is the intake boot. Goes between throttle body, ICV and intake. yes this is what everyone talks about deteriorating and causing an intake leak

and then there is this gasket for the ICV into the intake manifold, #10.

I replaced both on my car when I was in there for something else (neither needed to be, just preventative)

 

ok so i need to re do this cleaning process, inspect that boot and put sensor safe rtv on the DISA. I will follow all this with a seafoam clean to get all that sh*tty cleaner out.

Also, the #10 gasket you replaced, is that for precaution or they are wear items.

 

to a poster above.. Disa valve:

DISA: Differentiated intake system

On the differentiated intake system there is a connecting valve between the intake pipes. This is closed when the engine is turning at low speeds to create high torque due to the long intake distance. When the engine is turning faster the valve opens – to produce a short intake distance and therefore more torque and power.

DISA uses a physical phenomenon – when the length of the intake pipe has been adjusted to the engine speed, a “reboosting effect” is created by the vibrating air column before the inlet valve closes. This optimises the torque in both the lower and the upper engine speed range.

Advantages

Conventional engines have a fixed intake distance, which cannot be altered. However, optimal torque values can only be achieved with a long intake distance at low engine speeds and a short intake distance for a fast turning engine. Optimising this for low engine speeds would therefore result in reduced power in the upper engine speed range.

This is where the DISA comes into it – when the engine is turning slowly it provides a long intake distance and when it is turning faster it switches to the shorter intake distance. This means high torque and high power at all times.

if faulty, it should not cause driveability issues. It would only lower your power. Unless, of course, the gasket for it is letting air leak into the intake unmetered. You should seal it back in with sensor safe RTV to eliminate that problem

 

I dont think they are normally replaced- not a wear item.

I read somewhere it couldnt hurt to replace, so I bought it (only $12). I didnt want to have to go in there again so I popped it in. The old one looked fine.

What it does is seal between the ICV and the intake manifold. When you pop out the ICV, the grommet remains in the intake

 

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