I'm having a mystery no-start problem with my 1996 2.8L V6 A4 Quattro. I can go through the list of potential problems and fixes, but I thought I'd see whether people who know more about this particular car might be able to offer some insight before I beat my brains in.

The story goes like this. My accessory belt snapped while I was driving. I wasn't far from my work, where I was headed, so I watched the temperature guage and drove the couple of miles still to go with no problems (other than the lack of power steering). I stopped normally, got a new belt, and put it on without driving the car anywhere. In order to complete the installation, I removed the front bumper, the air conditioning condenser, and the radiator, but I left the headlights and big black frame holding them in place. After the belt was on, I put everything back together as before and refilled the cooling system.

I went to start the car with no luck, and the starter seemed to be turning a little slowly. Makes sense, I thought, since I ran the car without an alternator for a little bit there. I jumped it with the help of a friend, and while the starter began firing normally, I still couldn't get it to start. The engine is turning over (belts moving with starter) but not catching at all, not even a sputter. I pulled off a spark plug lead and crammed a screwdriver in there while my friend fired the starter, and I saw no spark (it was at night, so I'm sure I would've seen it if were there). I checked all the fuses in the fusebox next to the steering wheel and they all look good. I then used a handheld OBD II reader, and it says there are "No Codes"; it appears to be talking to the car's system alright, because it reads "FAIL" with the ignition off but "No Codes" with the ignition on.

That's where I'm at now. Has anyone encountered anything similar? Is there a crank sensor I could've knocked off in my front-end surgery or something? Is there an inline ECU fuse I could've blown? I'm hoping there's some idiosyncratic problem with this model that someone will recognize, though Icouldn't seem to find much in the archives of the forum that helped me. Thanks for your help in advance, everyone.

 

Bump. Anyone?

 

Through further testing, I've also discovered that there's no fuel injector activity. Does this sound like a fried ECU?

 

it could be the fuel pump ( can you hear it cycle when you turn the key? ), no codes? if it doesn't start and no spark there has to be stored codes like the crank sensor

 

That's what I would've thought, but I promise you, it returns "No Codes". I'll check again to be sure, though I already did it twice.

 

Yeah, definitelyt no codes stored.

 

when a code reader says fail it means it couldn't talk to the ECU and as its a 1996 it will require early VAG OBD1 you average code reader wont work

 

Right, like I said in the original post, it only reads "FAIL" when the ignition is off. It reads "NO CODES" with the ignition on, so it appears to be connecting.

 

I should add that I've read codes off this car with this reader before. They were compatible then, so they ought to be now.

 

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