Hello,
I have a manual '89 245. A couple of days of ago I took her in to the shop because of a strong gas odor. The mechanic told me to pop the hood and to start her up. Once I did, the problem became clear: a gas hose had a large leak in it and gas was spraying all over the engine block.
The mechanic put the car up on the rack and replaced the hose - it was a rather long hose.
Well, ever since he replaced the hose my car doesn't seem to have an idle. It stalls unless I give it gas. Under a cursory inspection, I noticed that the throttle wire - the silver wire that comes out of the end of the gas hose that the guy replaced - is very loose. It is not tight at all. It seems to me that this should be taut to maintain the engine running in an idle. So, 2 questions:
1. Is this wire supposed to be loose?
2. If so, can I adjust it - and how?
Thanks for any guidance
Mike
89 245 303K

I think that you are confusing the pressurized gas line (which you say was replaced) with the throttle cable. The cable connects at the throttle body and operates a butterfly valve to control air flow to the engine (engine speed). It shouldn't affect idle speed which is controlled by the engine computer via the idle control valve when the butterfly valve is closed (slack cable). If there is excessive play in the cable it would likely show up in the accelerator pedal as loss of engine revs (top end). Since it was idling correctly before the hose was replaced I would look for loose wiring connections and also check that the micro switch on the throttle body is closing during idle. You should be able to hear the switch click just as you open the throttle slightly. No click, rough idle. Also you may try resetting the engine computer. Remove the negative battery terminal for about 2 minutes and re-connect.