All regular service performed, and I clean the throttle body every third oil change. Carbon deposits seem to like to collect there and stick the throttle if I don't.
Started the car yesterday. Everything was normal. Drove it a 1/4 mile to the gas station. I topped it off with 7 gallons, replaced the cap and restarted the car. The idle was rough and a little low, but it stayed running. Put it into drive and immediatly brought it back to the house. In both park and neutral the vehicle displayed the same horrid idle. I stopped the car, made sure I put the gas cap on (which I had), popped the hood and inspected to see if the intake hose had somehow come off or the MAP sensor had somehow become dislodged or disconnected (happend in my 95 Mustang GT's MAF last week). All being normal, I tried to restart the car. I got nothing. The engine fired, revs rose to ~1000 RPM, and when it fell into idle position it just kept falling and died. The engine runs just fine if I apply slight pedal pressure; no hesitation, no roughness, just fine. When it is running with slight pedal pressure, the car is displaying no warning lamps.
This morning I pulled the intake hose and checked the throttle body for deposits. It was still pretty clean from the last time I had done it. I've looked into it, and heard that the Idle Air Control Vavle also likes to collect this junk. Not having the time this morning to remove the throttle body and get the valve out, I sprayed a little carb cleaner in there in hopes that it would free the solenoid (is that how it's operated?), but no luck. Either it didn't free it, or it's not my problem.
Any ideas guys? I absolutely love this car. I have two other vehicles with which to go about my life, but it's like an old, trusted friend. It's never let me down, and I suppose that's why it's got me so frustrated. My Jetta's second home is the service bay at my local dealership...
Thanks for the advice! Jon-Patrick