Hi folks -

Hope someone can point me in the right direction. I parked my '90 325is for the winter, and the car had developed some starting and initial (until warmed up) rough running problems that I hadn't fixed before the snow flew.

It appeared to be finally safe to pull the car out two days ago, and I did. The car is essentially undriveable now, with the following symptom: While it has started with no problems on the 3 or 4 times I've tried to drive it, I cannot give it any throttle, without it bogging down and balking, to the point that I have to pull over to the side of the road and let it fall to idle before resuming driving. I can make headway if I use the smallest application of the gas pedal, and get to 2000, 3000, or even 4000 rpm that way, but if I open the throttle even halfway at those engine speeds, it just immediately wants to totally cut out, not without spark, but seemingly without fuel delivery.

Needless to say, it's driving me nuts, and any suggestions would be much appreciated. Last fall I suspected the ICV, but haven't tested that or cleaned it, and now, from other similar but not necessarily identical problem descriptions, I also plan to check the fuel filter. Thanks in advance - Pat

The cold starting problem could easily be an intake leak. The current symptoms tend to make me think of a failing fuel pump or clogged filter. The fuel pressure and delivery tests in the Bentley manual will quickly tell if you have a fuel issue.

Thanks for the suggestions. It turned out to be the TPS, which I had to check because I couldn't get the stomp test to generate error codes. I also took the opportunity to clean out the ICV and to at least somewhat clean up the throttle body itself.

Nice to have it running again. Next problem, extremely intermittent wipers.