The motor and arm are only connected when the solenoid is engaged (pins 6-7 as jay_bob indicated)
Some additional information.
The feedback pot varies depending on model. The older 001 series is 3 to 3.5K The newer series (cant recall part number) is around 2.4K
If your motor draws more than 200. Its possible that you can get this down by cleaning the commutator and brushes. I did this on one customer's actuator. It was drawing >250. I opened up the back end and found lots of stuff all over the commutator and motor windings. I cleaned this all up with some brushes and IPA and it fell back down to around 180 mA.
I've been considering offering a cleaning and lubrication service for a small fee, say $30? . I do offer free testing.
Here are some internal photos:
VDO Cruise Control Actuator - Imgur
Inside The Box - VDO Cruise Control Actuator - Imgur
I recently had a chance to play with a few actuators. I found that the older models have--what I would consider--a defect. The older actuators will keep trying to drive the gears even after the arm had reached its end of travel. This results in high current draw and gears jumping. The newer models don't do this.
Nominal current draw is somewhere below 200mA. When the actuator was hitting its end of travel point and not stopping I saw current draw jump to 1.2A.
I did notice that the potentiometer on the older unit is roughly 3K ohm total. And the newer ones are 2.4K or so.
The "older" units carry a 001 545 75 32 part number.
The "newer" unit carry a 002 or 003 series part number I can't remember at the moment.