Hi, My name is Bill and I just joined the forum. My 245 GL LH-Jetronic has about 319k and is all original. The engine wire harness was replaced about 6 years ago. I've been having some issues with maintaining an idle and cold starting. When I start it cold, it will start right up and stabilize at a normal idle for about five seconds. After that, it quickly drops and stalls out. If I start it again, it will do the same if I do not give it some gas. Even after I press the accelerator to a higher rpm (1200-1400), the rpm's drop and go up even with a constant amount of pressure on the accelerator. This will continue until I put it in drive and drive it a few blocks. Afterwards, it won't stall but the idle is rough and seems stumbling no matter the engine temp. After changing the spark plugs and O2 sensor, the idle stabilized for a while. Afterwards, it ran even worse throughout the week and began to miss bad at idle after driving for 20 minutes on the freeway. ( I have changed the following parts:
-- New Bosch super plus spark plugs Wr7DC straight out of the box (I changed the last new pair three weeks before and they were getting burned once again/ carbon deposits).
-- New cap, rotor, and spark plug wires (changed today). The engine wasn't missing after that. Idle was still rough.
--- New flametrap (Crankcase Ventilation was plugged up.)
--- Air Filter replaced
--- Cleaned throttle body assembly thoroughly (replaced gasket). I removed the idle screw housing and cleaned the oil out of that (I did not replace the little gasket. It did look old).
--- Cleaned connection for engine grounding strap at valve cover
--- Replaced O2 sensor (it ran better and held a more stable idle but I'm sure that it is now dead once again. They don't last more than a day and when changed, they are covered in white.)

NOTES: When I changed the plugs three weeks ago, 1 & 3 looked normal. 2 & 4 had oil in the threads and #4 had oily corrosion on the tip. This time, I smelled gas on 2 & 4 spark plugs and there was saturation again on the threads.



I did want to check the constant idle box but I don't know where to find it in my '84. I have a factory manual that shows how to test various sensors off of it but the location shown is on the passenger side under the ECU. Does my car have a CIS box? Is there some other things that I can do to see why my idle is messed up?
Basically, I would like to fix my idle issues, find out why my O2 sensor dies within a few hours every time I change it and get the wagon running right. I would appreciate any help. Thank You, Bill