I have an orphan wire on my 86 Syncro.  Based upon location, it seems to me
that it may belong to the throttle valve switch.  I cannot see any place for
it to connect, but I think I can barely feel a male connector way under the
throttle valve switch, accessable only be reaching in from the driver's side
and under the intake air distributor.  (Boy, that is a long, awkward reach!)
The wire is long enough to comfortably reach that location.

The orphan is actually two wires, ending in a female connector, such as
shown in the Bentley manual, page 24.59, illustration 24-150, #2.  (BTW,
male connector #1, as shown in that illustration, is nowhere to be found.)
One wire is brown, the other is blue with a brown stripe.  Illustrations
24-149 and 24-150 both show a wire, but are vague about where it is
connected.

I suspect that this occured a few months ago (during the "it's too cold to
work on the van" season) when a non-VW garage replaced my accelerator cable.
Since then, the idle speed has been higher, although the idle stabilizer
control valve seems to function properly.  When I lift my foot off the gas,
the engine slowly returns to idle speed (albeit a high idle) and stays
there, whether the engine is hot or cold.

If I have stumbled upon the correct connection location, does the
orientation of the connector matter, or should it only be connected one way?

I hope the wisdom of the List can solve this puzzle for me.

Budd Premack
86 Syncro, 73 Super
Minneapolis, MN (Land of Sky-Blue Waters)