Idle control valve, should the innards be "loose"?

[Paul_540i]

M60 V8 engine with the straight-through type idle valve. I'm having problems with the car occassionally idling far too low, causing it to stall sometimes. It's not rough as such, just that now and then it will decide to idle at a steady 300 RPM! Which as you can imagine is very dangerous approaching junctions etc if you suddenly lose the ability to accelerate or steer. Careful use of the handbrake for the last few metres so you can get back onto the throttle before dropping the clutch isn't much fun.

Anyway point being I removed the idle valve today to clean it out, got the carb cleaner out and removed some of the black gunk on the inside walls. Stry though the valve part in the middle which blocks the airflow appears to be able to move freely. Is this normal behaviour while it's disconnected or is the valve broken? Put it back on and the problem still seems to be there, maybe slightly less but haven't driven enough yet to tell.

Cheers
Paul.

[SRR2]

The ICVs in the M20 and M30 engines flop around a bit when rotated back and forth on their axis. Some seem looser than others, but they seem to work the same. If it isn't loose at all then you have a problem.