On your system, the EHA direcly controls the air/fuel mixture. Depending upon the shape of the vane inside the fuel distributor, disconnecting it may completely shut off fuel, even though it's designed to allow a very small amount of fuel to keep a *warm* engine running. This is the "limp home" mode.

If your potentiometer is telling the computer that your throttle is wide open when it's actually closed, that will of course cause problems. You've already said your POT is bad, so disconnecting your EHA will only make things worse.

If you just want to start it, you can fool the computer by jumpering the connector that plugs into the POT to achieve a 0 ohm reading (throttle closed signal).

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A.S.E Tech A1,A6,A7,A8 & MVAC 609 + EPA 608

Unless stated otherwise, any question I ask is about my greymarket 1985 380SEL.