Hi all. Been awhile since I've been on the site - need some help.
My car is a '99 A4 avant quattro 1.8T (AEB) with the 5-speed that I bought about 5 months ago. Two weeks ago I was driving to work and the car acted like it was running out of gas - but it has a full tank. Had it towed home, and after work I tried to start it up; it would start fine, run for a couple seconds, and shut off. My first instinct was to change the fuel filter - did that and spark plugs, and once that was done it wouldn't start at all. It turns over just fine, but no start. Since then I've changed a number of parts, to no avail. Interestingly enough the car has not thrown any codes.
List of parts I've changed:
Fuel filter (needed done anyway - the one I took off was factory original, date stamped 10/4/1998)
Air filter
Coolant temperature sensor
Spark plugs
Crankshaft position sensor (old one was definitely bad, failed both resistance and continuity tests with a multimeter)
Ignition control module

I took the timing belt cover off to make sure the belt was fine, and it appears to be in good order.
I've also tried pulling the connector from the MAF to see if that'd help and no change. After I changed the crankshaft position sensor it acted like it wanted to start for a split second, but just keeps cranking - it sounds like one cylinder tries for a microsecond to fire but doesn't - kind of like one fast revolution followed by three normal speed revolutions and then back to one fast, three normal. I'm starting to wonder if perhaps the belt skipped a tooth at some point, or perhaps a bad ground somewhere - I am getting the ECU check signal to both the MAF and crank position sensor, which may eliminate the bad ground.

I appreciate any assistance!

 

The car has unfortunately not thrown any codes - tried from both OBDII ports. Unless I'm overlooking something obvious I don't believe it's a fuel issue; when I pull the plugs after trying to get it to start, they're all wet with fuel which leads me to think its a spark issue.

 

I think you need to verify 2 things:
1) spark
2) fuel

1) Pull each plug, one at a time, and stick the plug into the coil pack (coil pack plugged into its harness). Have the end of the spark plug touch the valve cover for a ground. While you or someone else cranks the engine, the other person can look at the spark plug gap for a spark. You may need low light to see this. Repeat for each cylinder.

2) It may appear that there is sufficient fuel, but it's worth checking anyways. I had a fuel pump die on me while driving.
You can pull the fuel injector rail, and if you have 4 similarly-sized bottles, you can stick one bottle around each fuel injector. Then crank the car, and see how much fuel is being sprayed.

 

Excellent, thank you. I'll be doing this as soon as I get home.

 

i have an 2005 a4 quattro 2.0 no crank i checked all my fuses changed the battery and the control module cuz it got wet im not sure if it the sensor or the starter