Hi, I've got a VW GOLF MkIV 1.4S (98).
it's done 118000 miles now. In the past my car has had the stalling problem 3 times, first time VW dealers said the throttle body needed to be replaced and charged me £300+. (RIP OFF!)
Second time they said a clean might sort it, which it did (£70)
3rd time a clean sorted it too.
and recently it began happening again..
I found that the air filter housing (excuse my terminology) was covered in oil inside, looked down the throttle body and that was blacker than black.
Anyways I fixed the problem myself this time. took off the TB pretty easily and using white spirt cleaned it in no time. That stuff is perfect for cleaning. You really don't need wynns from halfords. just pour a little white spirit in, whilst the butterfly is closed and swirl is around. pour out then wipe away with a clean rag.
I know that there's oil coming up the breather pipe and into the air filter housing, causing a lot of oil wastage. I've been keeping an eye on the oil levels and within a month it goes down to minimum.
I've decided to install a pipercross induction kit, it keeps the breather seperate from the TB, so hopefully my car won't stall again.
The breather now feeds into a catch can, which then is connected to a pipercross oil breather filter.
this now reduces emissions and my car feels so much smoother.
I must say though, I have the VAG-COM equipment, but i've not used it.
Once the TB was re-installed, i started the car and felt that the revs would come down very verrry slowly at first. it was like my foot was still on the accelerator.. but then took the car on a drive for approx 30miles and that problem went away.
Now, the car starts immediately, no probs at all, no stalling and actually feels so smooth. I'm pretty confident that there isn't much need to actually adapt the TB.
Furthermore.. from what i saw from the VW invoices in the past, the engineer only performed the 'adapt' the second time around, it wasn't done any of the other times (else i'm assuming they'd mention it on the invoice!)
Also worth mentioning VW quoted me £106.00 to clean and adapt the TB this time round. I can't believe it!.. I'm so glad i did the job myself. saved money and actually enjoyed it!!
Good luck guys if you decide to do this yourself!..