Went to start my car tonight, and then had to sit there for two minutes, keeping the RPMs up, and still it died on me. On the second try I noticed that the CE light was on; so I cut the engine and got the 1226 code. These problems at startup have been going on now since it got cold out, but usually went away after 15 seconds or so.

Also, I debaffled my airbox last night. Although I'm not sure how that would affect this, maybe it has something to do with it. And while I was doing that I noticed that there was a crack in the rubber tubing inbetween the AFM and engine. Also, it was a lot colder last night than it has yet been. What do you guys think is the problem? I'm already going to be replacing the O2 sensor and spark plugs since it's about 100K time, and hopefully that will solve it, but do you guys think that that's what's causing the startup problems in the cold and do you think the other two things (break in rubber and debaffling) might have affected it? :help

Just checked it again, and now it's throwing out a 1215 - MAF sensor, but no 1226...

I think you have a problem with a bad vacuum leak. You mentioned the crack between the MAP and the throtle body? Did I have that right?
If so I would use some tape and see if that corrects the problem. Clearly the ICV is confused due to the inflow of more air then what the MAP read.
I think the debaffling has nothing to do with this issue unless you displaced something. Once you get this running at idle again you might want to clean the ICV using the throttle body cleaner in the rubber bellows trick (use the search engine).
I hope this helps some.

I had the same exact problem with my 1994 325is, i got the 1215 MAF code. Unplug the MAF and start the car, keep the rpms up to keep it alive, then let go of the gas and see if it dies. It should stay on and idle erraticly. Before it dies plug the sensor back. See if this works, if not, try again! i did this a couple times and the car started to work again, and never had any symptoms. Weird.

Double check to make sure the MAF is actually plugged in. A cracked intake boot will definitely cause a driveability problem.

Well, the AFM IS plugged in, and I tried to do the unplug/plug trick, but it dies really quickly.

As for the crack, I tried to tape it up, but it still isn't working. The crack is right inbetween the ridge at the end and the main part of the boot, if that makes sense; so I'm not sure how much of the crack is actually creating a leak, as opposed to having the boot remain sealed by the metal of the connection part of the AFM piece. Anyway I put some duct tape over it, and it's still not working.

Edit: I'm going to call around tomorrow and try to see if anyone has a replacement for the intake. Then I'm going to see if anyone has a replacement O2 sensor. Then I'm going to do all the maintenance I was just about to do before this happened, and hopefully that will fix it (inlcuding cleaning ICV).

Heh, forgot to follow up this one. It was indeed the intake boot. After putting in a new one everything worked fine again.

Heh, forgot to follow up this one. It was indeed the intake boot. After putting in a new one everything worked fine again.
good to hear. :)

wow this tread solved my problem in minutes.
thank you DNk
my car was having the same problem, so i came home, did a search see if anyone had this problem and your post was the first i read. i went back to check my car and indeed my intake boot had a small crack, i used some high temp black duct tape and made it to school to take my final :alright . i will be ordering a new intake boot. without this forum i would have been really stuck on this one since im new to bimmers.