Problem solved for now. It turned out to be the connector as described below that goes to the Air Flow Sensor Potentiometer. It has been crushed by the A/C line that eventually winds up at the condensor. This is a bad place for the connector as it winds up at a 90 degree angle and eventually will wear through the weatherproof boot before the harness.
Thanks for all of the input. I'll check in soon enough and give an update. I'll have to give it the ol' test with some spirited driving. For those with a similar issue of a bouncing idle, I would look there 1st. Clean it up, make sure there are no breaks in the line, and restart the car. Jim In a message dated 3/5/04 3:39:10 AM Eastern Standard Time, [email protected] writes: > One time my 16v gli idle was bouncing around like crazy until I wiggled > the connector near the passenger side fender that plugs into the fuel > distributor. The bouncing idle went away immediately. The ac hoses rest > directly on the connector probably wearing some contacts a bit in the > process. A few months later I used deoxit on every connector I could get > to. No bouncing idle problems have ever appeared again. > > However, my car still tries to stall on me within a minute or two of > starting her up in the mornings before work and when I leave work. Not > sure what the problem is yet. It tries to stall right when I come to the > first stop. If I were to start up and drive non-stop she would drive just > fine... I'll pay someone $20 cash (yes, you read that correctly! :) if > they can somehow get me to understand what to meter, check, etc. to get > her back to normal. Some others on this list described the same symptoms. > Any fixes yet? > > Later, > Chad > > On Thu, 4 Mar 2004, John S. Lagnese wrote: > > >Look for a vacuum leak. On my 92 Jetta GL daily driver I changed the > grommet > >for the oil breather and the idle, which was erratic, smoothed out nicely. > >John > >----- Original Message ----- > > > >From: <[email protected]> > >To: <[email protected]> > >Sent: Wednesday, March 03, 2004 3:52 PM > >Subject: [a2-16v-list] Funky Idle - need assistance > > > > > >>All right, I've had it with my 91 Jetta Gli. The idle bounces from 1140 to > >1200 rpm about twice a second and sometimes slower. There is a real bad > >exhaust stink too, like it's running rich. I have poked around the engine > >bay and checked for a loose connection at the dpr and all the connectors > >around the fuel distributor. > >> > >>I replaced the Throttle Body switches a few years ago (Renard - are you > >reading?). I pulled up on the plenum from the fuel distributor to the > >throttle body to see if it would change. To no avail. I did not take it off > >to check for cracks underneath. Can you advise what you folks did to > >alleviate such a crazy idle. It is intermittent, but I'd say once it starts > >it will continue for the rest of the drive. > >> > >>Engine temperature does not matter. Lately, on a cold start, the idle with > >hunt up towards 2K but come down to 1200rpm to start to piss me off. Any > >help would be appreciated. All this happened as soon as I had some major > >engine work done: rebuilt head. > >> > >>Thanks, > >> > >>Jim >
