[Vwdiesel] Vwdiesel Digest, Vol 34, Issue 10

[hwy9fergs at comcast.net]

Loren, I had probably 20 years driving CIS Volvo cars (and working on em). On the Volvos, the fuel pump relay needs to see an ignition signal in order to stay latched. Audi probably does that as well (safety issue). It was a white wire with red stripe that went from the coil to the fuel pump relay. The only time I had  the sort of trouble you seem to be having (intermittent) my car would stall out, then start again after pulling over.  Did this infrequently until it got worse and wouldn't start.  The culprit turned out to be a bad crimp at one of the spade type connectors in the circuit (wire) from the distributor triggering device to the ignition exciter/brain box.  The wire looked fine, but just that insidious damn corrosion in the crimp was enough that the tiny little millivolt signal from the distributor pickup would break down,---- anyway, the fuel system may be doing what it's supposed to do if the ignition system is breaking down. On the other hand, the fuel pump relay can i
n fact malfunction in such a way as to short down the ignition via that same white/red wire I mentioned.  Even though they generally are very reliable, I ALWAYS kept a spare fuel pump relay with me.  So, find if it has a wire that seems to go off the coil to the relay.  If the ignition is dead, remove that wire from the coil and recheck for spark.  If you have spark again, change the relay. If still no spark, backtrack till you find the problem with the ignition, and you might have it licked.   Best of luck, Doug
. Original message -------------- 
From: vwdiesel-request at vwfans.com 

 LBaird119 at aol.com 
> Subject: [Vwdiesel] OT Quattro no start 3 hours away 
> To: vwdiesel at vwfans.com 
> Message-ID: 
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" 
> 
> My son was about 3 hours away today and the fuel pump wouldn't cycle on, 
> with the key. I talked him through pulling the FP relay and thumping it. 
> The 
> pump then would cycle but still no start. I believe he properly checked for 
> spark and came up nil. 
> I now have to find a co driver and time to go get the car some time this 
> week. 
> :-( Anybody have any experience on any "typical problems" or obvious place 
> to start? Checked that the CIS fuse was good and in place, other fuses are 
> good so there's the basic test light stuff but any other suggestions? 
> It's done this before and started but rarely enough to ever find the 
> problem 
> or even concern me much. Now I have to fix it or it'll end up costing me 
> TONS of time! (Like it already isn't!) :-P 
> Thanks for the support, 
> Loren 
> ****************************************