Cold Start Problem Now a No Start Problem

["mdm" <mdm@vianet.on.ca>]

hello list!  i'm a new member.  i've been auditing the list for about a
year and have found it invaluable.  i feel that i know many of you just
from your posts!  what a feeling to find other audi enthusiasts and to
discover that i really am normal.
i'm currently driving my fifth audi: a 1989 100.  it is an automatic and
has 216,000 kilometres (130,000 miles) on it. i just got it painted and it
looks great.....trouble is, i can't go anywhere in it, because it won't
start.  more correctly, it starts but won't run.  i need help.
a little more history....  last month i changed the fuel pump and the gas
tank.  it ran great after that right up until it was painted.  i'm pretty
sure that's a coincidence!  or, have i offended the audi gods with the
paintjob?
more on the symptoms....  the car starts immediately with the key but won't
run:  it immediately dies.  when i turn the key to the on position, i can
hear the fuel pump doing its thing. it immediately starts on this try, but
then dies again.  touching the accelerator pedal does nothing.  i can keep
starting it like this until the battery gives out.  it seems the cold start
injector is doing its thing but the other 5 aren't.
if i keep trying to start it (and i know i shouldn't as its hard on the
starter), after about 40 or so trys, it eventually runs.  when it finally
decides to run, the revs are very low and the idle is rough.  if i push on
the accelerator, it has the opposite to expected effect and the idle drops
even more and the engine stalls.  it will start up right away again and
will run rough until it warms up some, at which time i can give it some
fuel, that it will take grudgingly, and it revs up.  if i really try and
rev it up, it doesn't like that and i can hear a faint backfire that i
think is in the intake manifold.
once the engine is warm and will rev up i can drive the car, but you can
notice that it is not quite right.  it's a little sluggish.  once you drive
it for a while and shut the engine down, it will start again and run; but,
if you wait 15 minutes it will start alright but it won't rev up until it
runs for a bit.  
very perplexing!  one of my other audis exibited a mild form of these
symptoms but it wasn't so bad that you couldn't drive it.
i worked a bit on the car tonight but to no avail.  i did crack open the
banjo bolt on the fuel filter and briefly turned the key to the on
position.  now i know that the pump is doing its thing.  tomorrow
afternoon, i'm going to attempt to pull the fault codes.  never did this
before, so that should prove interesting.  i'll also check the grounding
points.  btw, i haven't been able to get the car to run at all today. the
battery is on recharge tonight.
i do hope that one of the list members has had this problem and can get me
driving my newly painted audi again.

regards,

mark