Please confirm diagnosis of vacuum leak...

[pangris]

Hello - 1993 325i, 149K miles.

Starts fine, erratic idle once warm. I have new plugs in it and a BMW tech has said he seriously doubts it is the ICV.

Once warm, it runs the same with or without the oil cap on - there is a SLIGHT change for a moment but the car does not sputter or die.

Sometimes it hesistates from idle when trying to accelerate, sometimes it dies completely, and sometimes I can't get it to move without bogging unless I rev it to 2500 RPM and drop the clutch

The car has code "1222" HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of times, literally. I let the car pull codes via the gas pedal/check engine light method for SIX HOURS and it read 1222 the WHOLE TIME. I finally gave up, I was hoping to clear it but started to worry about frying the circuit board or the battery.

So, I'm thinking that a vacuum leak is the most likely suspect. Any other thoughts? Places I should look for such a leak first?

Paul

[SHOracer]

There could be several things wrong. What brand plugs did you use?

[pangris]

Bosch platinum with the two prongs. Last night I cleaned the mass air element and made sure the two hoses attached to the intake elbow were on there very well and the problem has all but disappeared. I still have some very slight idle fluctuation occasionally but I'm thinking I may need to replace those hoses - they aren't exactly tight fitting!

[SHOracer]

I had a similar problem with an M50 that had autolight plugs in it. It would hesitate and you would need to roll onto the gas to avoid it. I changed the plugs to bosch plats +4's to try to fix it, and it became much worse, after two days the car began to backfire when hesitating. I then switched to the bosch super's (copper plug)from a BMW dealer and the problems went away. I think this might be a symptom of failing coils because I hear people running the plats with no problems, but this worked for me.