Bizarre behavior: no start 5ktq!

[qshipaz at juno.com]

Good morning...
I had a hell of a week with the '86 5ktq. Ken commented in an unrelated pos=
t regarding brakes about some of it... but here's the scoop so far.

Monday I drove it to work for the first time.Was intending to head home and=
 bleed the brakes. Audi had other plans!

Attempts to start brought the high whine and lack of "pulses" of an engine =
withot compression. Dang! Opened hood and tried again, with a passerby turn=
ing the switch and me eyeing the engine. Everything's rotating including th=
e cam pulley (can't see the cam itself with the baffle in the oil filler on=
 my MC engine), so the starter isn't just mimicing the sound of a busted t-=
belt.

But how's the pulley rotating with a broken belt? (I was thinking about thi=
s while awaiting the AAA tow truck) Must have either skipped a tooth or she=
ared the woodruff key. Out of boredom, I cranked it one last time. And she =
ran, but not well. Sounded just like a jumped-time engine- like a Golf I wo=
rked on once. By then, I was crossing fingers that the valves hadn't bent. =
A tow home (good consciencious driver who radioed dispatcher to find the pr=
oper tie-down hooks under a TQ) and a couple days of being tied up with oth=
er non-Audi issues, and I was able to start checking out the engine.
Removed timing top cover to find... (drum roll)
An intact timing belt in proper tension! Hmmmm. Consult Bentley and check f=
or TDC. Yep, we're spot on. So how did this happen? Before it got too late =
at night, I checked compression. 145/150/150/150/150. Somehow I think the v=
alves are intact...

If it jumped time or broke the woodruff, how did it come back to perfect ti=
ming? I saw the engine spinning over quickly without compression pulses! If=
 the timing (somehow) really is undisturbed, how come it ran so poorly? Too=
 many questions, and I'm STUMPED!

Regards,
Rob




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