The damper should not be holding the throttle arm off the throttle stop. Its
job is to cushion the arm when you lift off the throttle so that the throttle plate
does not snap closed. Rather, the arm settles gently onto the throttle stop.
I haven't looked at one lately, but from memory there is a pinhole that lets air
out of the damper when compressed by the throttle arm. In any event, the
damper should compress easily and not prevent the throttle from closing fully.
If you can't free it up by working it by hand, you would probably be better off
to delete the damper. It was not fitted in all markets, so the engine should
work fine without it.
Cheers... jondee86
PS: I assume that we are talking about the damper. Some 4AGE's were fitted
with a vacuum operated throttle opener which is a totally different animal