help!!!! 86 325 with bad running engine

i have a 1986 bmw 325 with a little over 200,000 on it with no major problems before .ok well this problem has slowly gotten worse when you would start the engine it would run rough refuse to idle properly and a reduced rpms around 450 or accellerate.the problem would work itself out within a minute or two of driving. this started happening only when the engine was warm and u shut it off and let it sit for a few mins such a running into a 7 11 then when you go to start it the problem happens. it then progressed to cold starts as well then most recently it takes much longer to work out the engine will stall at times and generally has gotten worse:banghead: . it is my only car so i have not parked it to fix the problem first. unplugging the oxy sensor did nothing ive tryed cleaning the intake and have noticed oil at times sitting in the intakemanifold maybe teaspoon at most (coming from the cilynder head breathing hose?) thats all i really know and any help would be extremely appreciated.

My 87 325is had a similar problem but would not get better when it warmed up. After about a week in the shop they finally diagnosed it to be a leaky intake manifold gasket, which was installed impropperly by the previous owner. The shop fixed it and all was good. Then about a year after it started to do it again. The first thing I did was pull the intake and look at the gasket. Sure enough they didn't put the gasket on right and it blew out the little bit that was sealing it. New gaskets and some sealant solved the problem. A year and a half later and it's still running fine.

Hope this helps you out!

BMWs are very sensitive to vacuum leaks so check the obvious. Borrow a vacuum gauge from autozone and look for at least 14hg of vacuum. If not check for leaks. If you get decent vacuum you may need to check the idle control valve and on an 86 you have a control unit for that valve (below the dash somewhere,separate from the ECU) these are not cheap but are problematic and should be replaced as a set. An electrical component can work until it gets hot/warm then begin to fail more quickly as its use continues.

It could also be a bad idle air control motor.

i would check all vaccum hoses also but it could be maniold gasket again or iac..good luck..