Auto Woes

I have a 1987 BMW 635CSI. Wonderful car. But not today. I can't drive it 'cause it wont idle. It all started in early august when I changed the plugs and oil. I put in Bosch platinum +2's in there. Not good. I forgot that I had banished multi-prong spark plugs from my cars. What started happening as the temps dropped was that it started to idle badly until it warmed up. It would stall intermittently. Now this engine has been rock solid since I got it 2 years ago. even in the winter. Turn key, car starts. Not any more. So having seen this problem on my '88 325i I thought that it was the fuel injector temp sensor. So I replaced that. Same problem. So then I went and tossed the plugs. The OEM ones were not available so I put in another single prong plug. Still rough idle. Now I'm concerned. I ordered the specified Bosch silver plugs and installed 'em. The other plugs showed no signs of any combustion problems. Started her up and she ran nice. Then she tried to stall a bit. I thought that perhaps the ECU needed to adjust.

Anyway I took my other car to my moms house. The next day I thought I'd put it on the road. Started it up and it went to rough idling as expected. I got about 3 blocks when the car went to bucking like a first time stick shift driver. Then the car stalled out. I managed to get it into a parking lot where it became hard to start and would not idle. I could gas it and keep it running somewhat and managed to get it back home.

So today I checked the plugs. Not fouled. Checked for vacuum leaks again. None. Then I discovered that the crank position sensor connection was broken at the connector clip. I'm not sure how much that is the problem but I had to order a replacement. I also discovered that this little vacuum hose sitting on the thermostat housing was broken. Well the sensor part. Had to order that too. The I discovered that one of the relays had a connector lose. I put that back on. No change. So basically the car is immobile and I can't get all the parts I need for 10 days. Never mind the rule here in my complex that you can't leave your car in the same spot for more than 48 hours. So I'll have to tell the super about my problems.

Unfortunately if these parts don't fix the car I'll have to part with it. Which presents another problem. I keep two cars because they are both old so if one acts up or I break something when I'm working on one (it's happened) I can still go to work or the parts store. If I have to part with the 6 I will have to buy another car which I really don't want to do. I'd want another 6 but they are hard to find in the configuration I want: Black with a manual transmission preferably a tan interior.