Idle problem SOLVED

[Moinx3@aol.com]

Greetings and thank you to those who responded to my idling problems.  As you
might remember, I had the 1990 Audi 80 (non-Q) with an erratic idle.

I'm happy to say that it was just a well disguised vacuum leak. See, I also
have an exhaust leak in the premuffler that creates a hissing sound so I just
thought all the hissing was from the exhaust.  The vacuum leak came from the
hose that runs from the intake manifold to a union that is coming from the
valve cover-I think it's purpose is to scavenge some crankcase gas.  This
particular hose suffers from a lot of heat cycling and had (over the last 7-8
years) degraded the rubber enough to cause failure.  After putting a rubber
cap (a small rubber foot to a chair bought at ACE hardware) over the fitting
on the intake manifold as a temporary fix, my car now idles at 900 rpm with
no unusual fluctuation.

Most of the replies that I received had been to check the ISV.  After solving
my problem, I detached the electrical connection to the ISV-very interesting.
The engine really bucked at idle.  Is there any preventive maintenance I can
do to make sure my ISV will continue to operate?  It seems from the replies I
received that a lot of people have had problems with their ISV.

Thanks.

John.