Anyone know what these do?

[devondub]

Was cleaning the engine bay on my 1.9 wasser the other night and noticed 2 things.
1. there is a small black box on the left hand side of the engine bay. Its a Hella part and it has 2 connections on it. Both connectors have been disconnected and joined together bypassing the unit.
2. There is a loose black wire in the n/s airbox of the engine bay. Spade connector on the end.
Anyone know what these do? Going away Monday would appreciate some ideas
Cheers guys

[VWCamperfan]

The Small black box is your idle stableizing unit. It is used to vary the electronic ignition timing depending on what speed the ignition signal is going through it. Usually the connectors you say have been joined plug into this box but sometimes the box may play up and they have been disconnected. On the other hand, someone may have been adjusting the timing with a strobe light (which s done with the two cables connected) and have forgotten to reconnect them to the box. Try reconnecting them to the box and see if idle consistancy improves.
The other lead sounds to me like your oil pressure switch cable. Should be connected really! Bit hard to tell though as there are a few cables with spade connectors around that area, some go to the dizzy also.
Hope this helps.

[devondub]

Thanks Campervan, that makes sense, will try to reconnect tomorrow see what happens, seems to idle ok at the moment. Cheers