idle problems

[altia!dennisr@ns-1.csn.net]

Hello all,

I've been lurking here for a couple of weeks as well as catching
up on some of the archives through the http site.  You guys are
a pretty knowledgable group and it's been, to say the least, fun
to find a group that shares my enthusiasm for M'audi as well as my
*challenges* keeping it running in a state of bliss...

BTW, 88 90 2.3L5, ~150k, had it for two years and 80k of those miles.
The commute is from denver to CO Springs, about 55 interstate miles
each way.  The miles and smiles add up.

Now for some help, if y'all can provide it.  when the outside temperature is
not hot (<=60 F), the car idles like a madman.  We're talking 2k to 2.5k.
As you could guess this is not a problem in the summer, but come winter
it can drive you crazy.  From a thread about 2-3 months ago I gained some
inspiration to do some debugging; pulling the various senders off of the
FT switch on the throttle body as well as the sender on the charcoal
cannister resulted in an un-changed, still 2.5k idle.  This being so,
I could have a throttle body valve that is stuck open a bit and therefore
letting in too much air.  Tapping it didn't seem to dislodge it, so I was
SOL on verifying that.  It's been cold here and Ihaven't had the chance
to take the inlet to the throttle body off and check it out for sure.
Before closing the hood, however, I thought I'd play with the full throttle
switch just for fun.  Held it in for a three count and lo the idle dropped to
1.4k!  Huh?  drove it around, and idle stayed relatively low (1.4-1.8).  
Hey, after 2.5k idle, 1.4k is like getting into, well, an audi or something:-)
Shut the car off, started right back up, and after it took a second or
two to find itself, right back up to 2.5K.  Close the FT switch, down to
1.4k. again.  I've been of the opinion that it's been a computer/electronic
error and not physical.  Now it sounds like both to me- stuck throttle valve
and computer telling it wrong thing.

Any suggestions?

Also, anyone have a Bosch mechanic they trust and love in the denver
colorado springs area?  BTW, Have the Bentley but not the wiring diagram,
which would really really really help.

This fixed, combined with the new control arm bushings and shocks I'm getting
in the next week would give me effectively a brand new car...

All help appreciated and hopefully reciprocated.

Regards,


Dennis Ruffing
dennisr@altia.com
I had a cat and his name was Moses...
I had an 83 GTI and it's name was $%^$^%#!!! (but it was great fun to drive!)