Hi everyone!!

First off, I know close to nothing about cars, and I have no one to confer with on them...I'm hoping someone can help me with some advice for the diagnosis that the dealership is giving me.

I got off work Monday (17th) night, ran some errands, and came back to my car to discover it would not start.
It cranks and cranks, but there is no spark/not getting fuel, etc. Battery has been checked, gas is in the car, etc.
As far as I know, I am 85 miles away from the nearest Audi repair/dealership. I had two local guys look at it. 1 of them I think did a pretty thorough inspection, wires, fuses, connections, etc. He had a scanner (sorry - no clue what kind) but he said the computer (is this the ECM?) would not even let him in, which led him to believe that was the problem. At that point he said I should probably go to a dealer since I would most likely end up there anyway if he or anyone local tried fixing it.

It is now at the dealership and they are telling me it is in fact the ECM.
I have an extended warranty that may cover some of the cost, so they are waiting until Wednesday (26th) to talk to them before they go ahead and order parts. I'm being told that the part alone is $1400...no clue how involved the installation is or how long it will take. On top of that I am facing a $325 charge for having to have the vehicle hauled there.

I came across this forum and have found 2 posts which to me seem like very similar issues, both ending up being the crank sensor.
https://www.audiforums.com/m_711333/mpage_1/key_/tm.htm
https://www.audiforums.com/m_573053/.../tm.htm#573680


For the most part, my car usually starts right up. I do remember that the previous Friday at one start it did seem to take quite awhile to start.
I also remembered that I had this happen once this summer. I came out to my garage and car would not start...turned over, but nothing more. I waited a few minutes and tried again and it started. Does this sound like something that would be the ECM? Does that give warnings or does it simply stop (like say when the fuel pump goes out)?

The second forum notes at the end that 'the problem w/communicating had something to do w/radio...if radio isn't working properly it will mess with the whole system.' Can anyone expand on this? My radio has worked fine, but I notice it no longer displays properly in the controls on my dashboard...Would that constitute 'not working properly' enough to mess with the communication?

I am just cringing at how much this is going to cost, especially if it is not the ultimate cause. In one of the threads, auditech79 posted several times that the ECM 'hardly ever fails'...I'm only at 60,000 miles and I believe I am only the 2nd owner. I would think something as important as an ECM would last longer?

What kind of questions should I be asking the dealership? If I ask them about the crank sensor, how do I know that they have checked it, and how do I sound credible (like I know what I'm talking about)? If their reply is simply we can't connect to the ECM therefore that must be the problem, how can I reason with them to check other things?

Thanks so much.