'85 5000S Turbo: Ignition/electrical problem

["Loren Porter" <lorenp@dwxmail.com>]

Hello everyone,

About one month ago, I attempted to start my car without success.  The
starter turned the engine over normally, but there were no signs of
ignition.  I checked to see if there was any spark being generated and there
wasn't.  I also pulled a spark plug to see if there were any signs of fuel
reaching the engine, but there were none.  It appears the engine was not
receiving any fuel or spark.

This appeared to be a somewhat serious electrical problem so I took the car
into the local Audi dealer here in Des Moines, IA.  They told us it would
cost $475 for a used control unit from NY and that once they ordered it,
they could not send it back.  They suggested that instead of ordering the
part immediately, to wait for another 5000S to arrive for repairs so they
could try its working control unit in my car.  The idea of swapping parts
was to prevent spending the $475 for nothing.

We waited a month for another car similar to mine to arrive, but none with
the same type of control box did.  Four weeks passed so we went ahead and
ordered the part.  They installed it, called us and said the car started
immediately.  We went to pick the car up, paid for the repairs and went out
to start the car.  I turned the key and the same problem occurred.  The
service manager tried to start the car several times, and let it crank for
long periods of time with not one sign of any ignition.  He indicated the
car was started three times earlier that day and was running perfectly.  It
appears that another control unit has possibly been damaged.  Another unit
will arrive next week, but it appears this may happen yet again.  This does
not make sense.

This list has been extremely helpful in the past and it appears the
dealership may not have the ability to fix the car.  They suggest the car
may never start again.  If anyone has experienced this situation or knows
what the problem may be, let me know.  Any information would be greatly
appreciated!

Thanks for reading.

-Loren Porter
Court Avenue Networks