Cross posted from 7 series forum as the traffic for mechanical issues is faster in the ... Mechanical forum :)

So, I have come across another nasty mechanical gremlin. Lately, if I am traveling lets say, on the interstate, and have the cruise control set, it will be riding smoothly, but all of a sudden drop in RPMs (like 500 or so) and then kick real high for a second, and then level back out again. When this is going on, when I come to a stop, it will try to stall (and sometimes is successful). When I get it started again, it seems like the idle is jumping high for a second or two, and then drops real low. And unless I give it gas and start moving again, it will try and stall.

This is really noticeable after first starting it after being off for a while. After a long drive, it gets better, but it still present. I have yet to do any real troubleshooting yet, as I think this could be a large number of possibilities; including fuel filter, throttle position sensor (mine has one of those right?), mass air flow sensor, or some other fuel or ignition related issue.

Does anyone have a good idea on where I should start with this? Does anyone else want more descriptions of the issues? Anything else I have not mentioned that I should look for??? Thanks for any help...

After some quick reading, as it has been a while for me on the forums, I am looking more towards this being the mass air flow sensor.

Back in December, I had to replace the dreaded rear intake manifold plate (known as the OSV fix). When it was done, I noticed a bad idle right off the bat, and fixed it by adjusting the actual throttle cable. However, during the troubleshooting, I noticed that pulling the plug from the mass air flow sensor cause no change in the car's idle. I have been told there should be a noticeable change, if not stalling, when disconnecting the maf sensor... what do you all think?

More updates, maybe this will help get more responses. Now I do get a change when disconnecting the maf sensor, but it could still be an issue. Also, when I first start it now in the mornings, I can give it a few quick, high revs, and it will run decently. But if I drive a long distance, maybe 15+ miles, then I can feel the "jerking" of the engine when cruising at a constant speed, and thats when it wants to start stalling if I come to a stop...

OK, so I have parked the car and have made ride arrangements through the weekend, so now I can start tearing into it. I have also read before that even a low battery cause cause havoc with the car, so I hope to test it today. I have a multimeter, can that test a battery? I am a little inexperienced with multimeters. And can you test it from the remote charging post, or is it best to test from the battery posts?

Anyone else have anything at all as to where I should start hunting for this issue?

Problem found, but not solved yet...

I completely forgot that, back in December, when I did my intake manifold rear cover, I noticed some oil in the first spark plug holes off the firewall, presumably from the valve cover gaskets. Well, I looked at that first, and low and behold, there's oil all over in there. Luckily the spark plugs sealed enough for the oil not to enter the cylinders. So I sopped up all the oil, removed the plugs, cleaned it all real well, and removed the valve covers. Off to the stealer to get new gaskets, and get some carb cleaner for the spark plugs, and should be good to go.

For those who do not understand what was happening, the oil was "stealing" the spark from the spark plugs, and basically causing massive random misfires.