DIY: Cleaning/Replacing Idle Control Valve (ICV)-

[rocket808]

Except us OBD-II guys don't have to remove the manifold. It's easier to access than on the S50's.

just did this on my 99 last night. removed everything from the intake to the tb, then the icv is bolted on the backside of the dipstick bracket. remove the dipstick bracket and you can wrestle it out without removing the manifold.

also did my plugs and fuel filter. not sure which did the trick, but my car idles much smoother, especially when it is cold.

[phillyB///M3]

PhillyB, nice write up. Did you do this because of idle flucuation? How bad was yours and did the cleaning of the ICV totally fix it? Thanks

Also, did you replace the 6 manifold gaskets?

Yep I replaced the gaskets.. I forgot to post all the P/N's but I will do so shortly. As far as my idle, when its cold outside my car usually revs up to 2k on its own then drops down within a second so I figuered i'd check some possible causes. Every once and a while my car tends to have weird idle but its a rare occasion. I figuered I'd just see how mine was doing for the most part. My ICV wasnt that dirty at all, I've seen worse. My idle is seems pretty smooth now, I havent tested it enough to see if it fixed my rare weird idle.

Except us OBD-II guys don't have to remove the manifold. It's easier to access than on the S50's.

Yupp, OBD2 cars are alot easier. Lucky Bastards!

The S50's ICV is really under there as you can see from the pictures.

Very nice, Phill. I'll have to keep this bookmarked (and printed) for when (and if) I ever do this.

And wow, 4am?

hah, I was out with my lady earlier that day and I'm a usual night owl on here.

[JClark]

I tried to get mine out without removing the manifold without much luck. Good writeup.

BTW, did you paint your oil filter top?

[Bernanke]

Hey guys, just wanted to let you know I did the ICV cleaning today and i did with WITHOUT taking off the manifold and i have pretty big fat hands so it can easily be done. took me about 1 hours to do ICV and another hour to do throttle body. If you are planning on doing Big Bore throttle body it is the perfect timing to clean ICV. I tried to used toothbrush but it was honestly waste of time b/c toothbrush head is just too big. I just used half a can of Teflon safe throttle body cleaner and man it looks brand spanking new now. I also sprayed a bit of silicone lubricant to keep the flap extra lubricated. I also completely bypassed at the coolant lines both to clean make everything less messy and also for performance reasons. The hardest part was getting the ICV out in my opinion b/c the damn rubber had been there for so long it kinda got stuck but once i got it out i gave it a extensive cleaning and just used those shop paper towles and it looks perfect now. When you take out throttle body, HFM, reducer, intake, and Alternator cooling duct there is plenty of room to work underthere. If you really want even more room you can take out the front intake manifold support brace and then everything would be even easier to take out / put in. car idles much much better already ( im sure some of that has to do with bigger throttle body). The car idles super smooth now and alot of the misfires at idle are now gone. car sounds much healthier at idle and idle has gone up just a tad. overall i'm very happy. you can take off the intake manifold if you want but its really not necessary at all and it will only add time to the cleaning process.,

my 2 cents

[hc1001]

yea i didnt take off my manifold either... only thing that was difficult was making sure the hoses were on the ICV securely. i followed this 5 series DIY http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum...d.php?t=242033

[phillyB///M3]

I tried to get mine out without removing the manifold without much luck. Good writeup.

BTW, did you paint your oil filter top?

Yupp, I painted most of the stuff black in my engine a while back (except the brake fluid resevoir.

Hey guys, just wanted to let you know I did the ICV cleaning today and i did with WITHOUT taking off the manifold and i have pretty big fat hands so it can easily be done. took me about 1 hours to do ICV and another hour to do throttle body. If you are planning on doing Big Bore throttle body it is the perfect timing to clean ICV. I tried to used toothbrush but it was honestly waste of time b/c toothbrush head is just too big. I just used half a can of Teflon safe throttle body cleaner and man it looks brand spanking new now. I also sprayed a bit of silicone lubricant to keep the flap extra lubricated. I also completely bypassed at the coolant lines both to clean make everything less messy and also for performance reasons. The hardest part was getting the ICV out in my opinion b/c the damn rubber had been there for so long it kinda got stuck but once i got it out i gave it a extensive cleaning and just used those shop paper towles and it looks perfect now. When you take out throttle body, HFM, reducer, intake, and Alternator cooling duct there is plenty of room to work underthere. If you really want even more room you can take out the front intake manifold support brace and then everything would be even easier to take out / put in. car idles much much better already ( im sure some of that has to do with bigger throttle body). The car idles super smooth now and alot of the misfires at idle are now gone. car sounds much healthier at idle and idle has gone up just a tad. overall i'm very happy. you can take off the intake manifold if you want but its really not necessary at all and it will only add time to the cleaning process.,

my 2 cents

Nice to hear, some are able to do it that way and some havent been able to. I was replacing a bunch of hoses and doing the coolant line bypass so I figured I'd do it the long way just incase people couldnt get it by reaching under there. Anyhow, good advice.. Thanks.

[Balthazarr]

...nice writeup Philly.
Well...whenever I find a way to prevent the tb boot from collapsing with the reducer for the HFM mod, I will probably do this too seeing as how the inj's have to be added.

Bike has me wrapped up for the time being. Then there's the #$%..rain!!

[SkycityBMW]

Nice write up ! ! !

I was just askin for this info too . . ! ! !

[JClark]

Yupp, I painted most of the stuff black in my engine a while back (except the brake fluid resevoir.

Looks great. I'm painting the ugly off-white front of the valve cover/vanos cover this spring.

[SkycityBMW]

Hey phillyB . . . do you hav any after pics of the ICV ?

[GQ_Style]

Might as well do the knock sensors while you have the intake manifold out.

[phillyB///M3]

Hey phillyB . . . do you hav any after pics of the ICV ?

No sorry man... Mine wasnt that dirty at all... basically it looked like it had a thin film of black build up when I pulled it out and after cleaning it i could see the aluminum inside.

[mrsha007]

Phil, you mind if i add this to my website?

BTW, your in my phil 305 Bus Ethics class.

[phillyB///M3]

Phil, you mind if i add this to my website?

BTW, your in my phil 305 Bus Ethics class.

Yah sure..... You serious? haha.. i've never seen you in there but its a big class... Sweet.

[SkycityBMW]

No sorry man... Mine wasnt that dirty at all... basically it looked like it had a thin film of black build up when I pulled it out and after cleaning it i could see the aluminum inside.

Thanks, PhillyB

Mine was dirty . . . and I see silver now too.

I hope this solves my problem

[greatcasa]

Just a thought for anyone who doesn't want pull everything out. Sea Foam is a great treatment for degumming and decarboning your engin and if you put it in using the small vacuum line going in the ICV, the cleaner will pass through it on its way into the engine. I would think as long as your ICV valve is good, even if its really dirty, a couple of these treatments over a couple thousand miles will clean it up nicely. Just did mine today and my idle jump completely stopped. The stuff if cheap and boy you can see all the carbon crap that comes out of your tailpipe in smoke form after doing it. Do a search on the forum for seam foam and the thread talking about how to do the treatment should come up.

By the way. Nice write-up. Very detailed for having to replace the ICV and thoroughly clean it if necessary after doing a Sea Foam treatment. By the way you can buy Sea Foam at just about any autoparts store for less then 4 bucks. You can also put it in your gas as a gas treatment, and also in the crank case as an oil treatment. I've talked to several mechanics that swear by this stuff and is a "major" component of any major tune-up they do on cars that come into their shops.

[odortiz]

[QUOTE=phillyB///M3]I used an old toothbrush, a small metal brush and some Q-tips. Once you’ve cleaned out the carbon and dirt. (Optional: Spray some silicone lubricant to lubricate flap in the ICV) Re-install ICV in its proper position.

(If anyone has any suggestions on improving this thread, LMK )

QUOTE]

silicone is bad for o2 sensors and catalytic comverters.
poisons them.

[phillyB///M3]

[QUOTE=odortiz]

I used an old toothbrush, a small metal brush and some Q-tips. Once you’ve cleaned out the carbon and dirt. (Optional: Spray some silicone lubricant to lubricate flap in the ICV) Re-install ICV in its proper position.

(If anyone has any suggestions on improving this thread, LMK )

QUOTE]

silicone is bad for o2 sensors and catalytic comverters.
poisons them.

I didnt use Silicone on mine but I had a bunch of members suggest it so I added it to the write-up.

[odortiz]

that's cool. i think some trottle body cleaners contain lubricants so any extra is just for peace of mind. then there's the issue of blow-by oil mist lubrication/gumming up of the IAC.

[bigmansM]

Does the arrow on the icv need to point towards the hose going into the intake boot or does it need to point towards the manifold?

[x2nervisx]

needs to point to the manifold

[bigmansM]

needs to point to the manifold

WRONG!

[leedawg]

Excellent write up ill look into doing mine when the time comes

[x2nervisx]

WRONG!

I looked at mine before removing the hoses and mine pointed to the hose to the manifold.. car runs perfect

[DrZiplok]

WRONG!

If you look at the ICV in the photos, you can see that the two ports have different diameters. It's very hard to put the hoses on the wrong sides...