first ill admit i let my car run out of gas so thats obviously dumb. It was warming up in my driveway and i came out and it ran out. I went and got gas for it but now the car will not start ive tried numerous times. ive checked the fuel pump fuse and its good. Anyone have any ideas what to do?

 

your fuel filter could be clogged up with trash thats in the tank. Or just pull the neg lead on the battery for 10 min and see if that helps

 

Is your driveway flat? Or, are you parked at an angle? If you are parked at an angle, get more gas.

Bob

 

I'm helping him diagnose the problem. Here's the list of things we've done.

-Changed the fuel filter. I loosened the line that feeds up to the motor first, it had enough pressure to **** out in my face. (I didn't relieve the pressure on purpose because I wanted to make sure the lines/rail are pressurizing.

-Checked the fuel pump- I pulled the gauge sender out and put my ear just about in the tank. When he cranks the car, the pump primes. It sounds alright to me, like any other fuel pump.

-Checked the airway- free and clear of any debris or blockage. Pulled a coil and tested for spark. It has spark.

-Injectors- I listened to them while he was cranking the car over. They sound normal. (IE: consistent clicking as they should)

So we have fuel (or so it seams), air, and spark. Maybe Nick can get some more gas in there today and see if that helps. It's got about 4gallons I think. Just below 1/4 on the gauge, on a slight uphill incline.

Today I'll pull the return line off the fuel rail to make sure fuel is actually getting up that far.

I hope that helps someone diagnose this problem. It's eating me up, and I'm a n00b to OBD2 stuff. All my cars are <'95, and I'm well aware of how they operate. Audi's are very new to me. Thanks!

 

Did you by any chance disconnect the battery and reconnect it?

 

Crap, I forgot to mention that, yes, we tried that too. I even read somewhere on here that if you disconnect the battery that you're supposed to let the car sit for 3 minutes with the ignition in the ON position to let something calibrate, so we tried that too.

Still no luck. Starting to think the fuel pump is fried even though it appears to be pumping a bit. (judging by the pressure release when pulling the filter yesterday)

Nick (the OP) is going to try to put more gas in it today in the event that it's still a bit low. Hopefully that's all it is, but I'm reluctant to believe it at this point.

 

Time to return to ground zero...

What year Audi? What motor?

Do you have VagCOM?

 

crank it over a few times and pull a sparkplug to see if your getting fuel. Make sure your getting fuel to the rail. Then test the fuel pressure at the rail. The pump might have overheated and isn't pumping at full capacity. remember they are supposed to be submerged in cold gasoline so... anyway it's happened to me before, worth checking.

engine model would be helpful

 

Yeah, we had done that. I asked Nick if he put enough gas in, he said 4 gallons. I told him to put more in (because when I listened to the fuel pump, it didn't sound like it was under load/pumping anything). He did, and iti fired right up. LOL.

At least I'm more familiar with the Audi A6 now. Thanks for all the suggestions, everyone!

Edit: and for the record, I was working under the assumption that there was enough gas.


In case anyone still cares, his car is a 2000 A6 2.7t

 

That is strange. Just a few gallons should have been enough to get fuel to the pump unless the incline was very steep.

The fact that he has a Turbo might have had something to do with the problem. My 89 200 QT (turbo) had a fuel accumulator that needed to be pressurized before it ran well. The acumulator compensated for momentary lapses in fuel availability at the pump and ensured that the fuel pressure was somewhat stable. There was a check valve in the system that kept things pressurized when the motor was off. I should say kept things pressurized most of the time because it leaked and I had to crank the motor for about 15 seconds if the vehicle sat for more than a day.