Thanks for the response dr.  I diagnosed the problem by spraying carb cleaner on the manifold.  The idle immediately shot up.  At first I though it was the injector seals, so I replaced them.  This made no difference.  Then I pulled the manifold and the gaskets and inspected the whole deal.  Everything looked good so I put it all back together and torqued the manifold to specs.  I repeated the carb cleaner test and the idle still responded.
I am guessing I need new gaskets at a minimum.  A warped manifold or head seems like a possibility, but lets start with the cheap and easy.  California Imports carries both the thick gasket (heat spacer according to them) and the paper/foil gaskets.  They told me that usually both are used.  Bus Depot only carries the thick gasket and told me no other gaskets were necessary.  My local VW dealer told me that the gaskets where no longer available and that he didn't know for sure what the stock set up was (sounds like a lazy parts clerk to me).  Bentley only shows one gasket in his diagram of the manifold, but sometimes his diagrams lack fine detail.  I guess I'll buy both gaskets from California Imports  and start by installing the thick one.

Anybody else have any light to shed on this matter?

jb
jake_beaulieu@yahoo.com

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