any air leak between air flow meter and throttle body sure fits the symptom.

some terms may be mixed up a little.
the throttle body is not on the air filter housing.
But the Air Flow Meter is on the air filter housing though.
and a large  hose connects throttle body and AFM ..
and those can be dodgy, like slip off, or crack or leak air , especially
on the 1.9 wbxr engine.

a real maddening failure mode is cracked large intake hose,
and it only acts up with engine movement such as during acceleration.

Scott

On 7/24/2012 12:35 PM, Aristotle Sagan wrote:
> I think you're wrong. It couldn't be that.
>
> tim in san jose
>
> On Tue, Jul 24, 2012 at 12:03 PM, Ken Olsen <648.ken@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Spot-on! The the throttle body came off the air filter housing. Not sure why
>> I didn't spot that right off. THANKS!
>>
>> On Mon, 23 Jul 2012 21:25:56 -0700, Stuart MacMillan <stuartmacm@GMAIL.COM>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> This will prompt a long thread!  Make sure the connection to the air flow
>>> meter is fully attached.  It's likely some sort of fuel problem either from
>>> a large vacuum leak or something came unplugged.
>>>
>>> Stuart
>>> BTDT.
>>>
>>> Subject: Starts then dies. What to check?
>>>
>>> 85 1.9L. Running fine this morning. Time to come home from work. Starts,
>>> dies. Won't start with throttle open. Dies if I try to give it gas. I'm not
>>> out of gas, and there seems to be plenty of pressure at the "t". What else
>>> to check?
>
>
> --
> Where ever you are, there you be. Unless you're driving my van, in
> which case, you ain't got there yet.
>