E30 Zone

Was looking at my mates 325i yesterday and we found a connector that was nto plugged into anything on the other side. I think it's on the throttle body just before the inlet on the left hand side, a square connector. We couldn't see where this was meant to plug in but the car appears to run ok without it connected. Any idea what it might be and where it should be connected to?

Thanks

probably needs to be connected to the icv (idle control valve)

It's probably for the charcoal canister valve that's only fitted to cat equipped cars.

It's there because all facelift E30'S are cat prepared.

Cheers,

Iain T

Wehere is this idle control valve located as we couldn't see anywhere obvious for it to go and it was a reasonably short cable, around 20cm.

It sounds like it's for the cat as stated by Teml8e30.

Let me see if I can clarify my esteemed collegues statement.

Am I right in assuming that the black round cylinder to the left of the throttle body (when standing on the passenger side) is the ICV?

If so, then the lead that is attached to the end of the cylinder is not connected to anything, it is just dangling under the inlet manifold.

Does this help at all?

ICV is a 'T' or 'L' shaped unit sitting to the left (when viewed from the nearside) of the throttle body with a hose and the inlet bellows attached to the short ends and an electrical connector on the long end.

If this unit has a wire connected to it, your loose wire is probably just as Iain said.

I'm with Iain and Chris.