Hey Guru's
I have a 1989 Jetta and I've been having a strange problem.
I start the car, it idles fine, although smells a little rich, and drives fine for a few miles. Then, it will slowly decrease RPMs and I'll lose speed. Depressing the accelerator does no good. Sometimes makes it worse. If I do nothing but let my foot off the gas, it will slowly die. If I depress the clutch and let it idle, it will slowly die. Sometimes it will actually come back to life, but that's rare.
Now, If I turn the ignition off and back on while its sputtering and dying, it acts acts fine. It will drive for another mile or so before it repeats this problem.
I have had 2 mechanics here in Memphis look at it. One mechanic replaced both fuel pumps and the fuel filter and removed/cleaned/reinstalled the gas tank. This helped for a day. The other mechanic replaced a 'control module' located under the hood right in front of the winshield on the driver's side. This worked for about a week.
I've filled the tank with new gas (it was on 1/4 tank) and still have the problem. I have NOT used any store-bought additives.
I've also replaced the spark plugs/wires/distributor cap/rotor.
All replacement parts were purchased NEW from German-parts distributors and all are German.
I am at a loss here. Its a great car and I just want it to run right.
Any thoughts on what else I should look at ?
-Chris E.