Ongoing power malady with GTI (CIS-E)

Hi all,

I've got an '85 GTI with the CIS-E engine managment that occasionally drives like it's possessed, similar to what the '92 Golf owner is experiencing.  It has a consistent stutter issue that develops spontaneously into full-blown laryngitis; basically, it will be super-slow to rev, and have p-poor power under load, especially from standing start.  This can last as long as a minute, after which it appears to clear its 'throat' and rev abruptly and easily well past 4K.  I have previously replaced the main fuel pump over a year ago, and did cap, rotor and wires earlier this year. I have also changed out the main thermostat, so warmup is spot-on normal. I haven't touched the transfer pump or the injectors so far. I can't find any significant vaccum leaks that would contribute. Does this sound like electrical, or what??    

Ahhh, this might not be electrical at all- turns out I'm getting snotty mess the color/texture of peanut butter out of the crankcase breather hose (OK, maybe not quite as thick as peanut butter), and it's been drooling into the airbox. Since I did some cleaning of the breather hose, throttle body and idle air stablizer, it's been running *tons* better with way more torque off idle. I may need a PCV valve, and I know I need to replace the valve cover gasket.  This may be simpler than I thought.

Happy holidays!  

Curiouser and curiouser: the thing has a pattern of running like an utter pig for about an hour or so (usually after it warms up for a minute), with all kinds of bucking and lurching. After this, it cleans up and runs like a normal car. I found out the air filter was filthy, and I replaced it last night. I also opened up the breather line to the box right after I shut the car down, and sprayed a quantity of carb cleaner up the line towards the cam cover. This morning, started and ran perfectly all morning. Wow- so far, so good.