Mine used to stick too. When I replaced the transmission I checked all the
old linkages and they moved fine. It was the lever on the dying tranny that
was the sticking point.

On Mon, Jul 26, 2010 at 1:50 PM, Cecil Eastman <ckelmo1@comcast.net> wrote:

> Here it is the height of camping season and Der BrotKasten, an '85 1.9l
> automatic, is acting up.  Recently the engine has been racing and my normal
> solution was to give a quick tromp on the accelerator to get it to settle
> down.  Result:  broken accelerator cable.  I replaced it, hoping that the
> problem was a snagged cable, but that's not it.
>
> It seems now that the two springs at the throttle body aren't enough to get
> the engine back down to idle.  I've cleaned the torque spring that sits on
> top of the throttle body with carb cleaner and a blade to remove the years
> of gunk built up.  But no difference:  if I twist the mechanism by hand it
> will cheerfully sit a couple of degrees from fully closed.  The auxiliary
> spring that attaches to a loop elsewhere on the manifold has some pull to it
> yet.  But the springs just aren't doing their job, it seems to me.
>
> 1.  Am I correct that the springs are the problem or is there something
> else I should be checking?
> 2.  Does anyone have a line on a supplier for replacements?  I hate to have
> to go to the local VW shop if I can help it.
>
> Thanks,
> Cecil