Stalling/Revs drop in 2nd gear

[margin-walker]

Hi everyone - here's an update:

The guy came round to my house on Saturday in a big white van full of computer/tuning equipment. He started the car up, had a quick look at the engine and said it sounded very rough. Then he plugged the VAG COM into the dashboard but there were no error codes stored! I was convinced there would be error codes!

So he went back under the bonnet and did the following:

1) cleaned the throttle body (took all of 5 mintes!)
2) cleaned the distributor
3) checked the voltage on all ignition and spark plug leads (all ok)
4) cleaned the spark plugs
5) checked the emission sensor was ok
6) had a good fumble around for loose connectors etc.

The guy was well helpful and it only cost ?35! I took the car round the block and it didn't drop any revs - thank god. It sounded so much better when it was just ticking over as well.

So I decided to reset the ECU on Saturday night whilst it was running okay, and I bought some fuel injector cleaner from Halfords and poured that into a full tank of fuel. Yesterday I blasted the car to see my parents in Wirral - a good 35 minute thrash to start cleaning the injector nozzles.

Yesterday the car dropped revs slightly (from 900 to 750) about 4 times when changing into 2nd gear, but apart from that it's running great.

I hesitate to say the problem's fixed - will give it a week or so and see how it behaves.

I think cleaning the throttle body is a damn good idea - I replaced the original with a used one 12 months ago but haven't cleaned it since fitting it. Having watched the tuning guru do it on Saturday it looks dead easy. I'm not sure what he was spraying into it though, any suggestions?

Veedubgti8v, I'm interested in your suggestion about the throttle stop switch - my car hunts for the revs sometimes when (attempting!) to idle. It's always had a rough idle. What symptoms did your car have before you fitted a new throttle stop switch?

Thanks for your replies everyone,  hopefully your answers will help a few people to sort out their stalling/rough idle woes!  

[Veedubgt18v]

It would start ok but when i pull away and put the clutch in to change gear or stop the revs would drop to about 500rpm and the battery light would flicker, it only did it in 1st and 2nd cos the revs are lower i suppose. when the revs dropped they would 'flick' back up again to about 1250 rpm then drop to about 700 then settle on 850ish. didnt matter if the car was warm or cold it still did it, when it was cold tho it would sometimes drop so low it would stall. i fitted a new switch and it stopped immediately after i had readjusted the revs, it now only drops to about 800rpm then raises to 850rpm and stabilises straight away.

[Veedubgt18v]

to fit it you have to take the throttle body off (not hard) when i did this i checked the gasket (mine was ok) cos if it was leaking that could cause a problem, i also took out the idle screw and gave i a clean, both the screw and the hole it goes in. i then cleaned the throttle body out with carb cleaner. this was an intermittent fault but i havent had any probs since i replaced the switch 3 weeks ago!

hope this helps
ed