I recently purchased a 97 a4, hoping it would be a fun car to drive... on the third day of purchase the serpentine belt broke so I've spent the past 8 hours removing the entire front and replacing the belt. After replacing the belt and refilling the coolant, I started the car to see how it would run. Everything ran fine, so I turned the car off. After replacing the front bumper I went to go turn the engine over and it wouldn't start! I checked the spark plugs just too see and there is oil in the spark plug wells. I plan on replacing the valve cover gaskets on sunday, but now am stuck with a car that won't start. Any ideas?

 

It doesn't sound quite like this could be the problem, but I just received a "recall campaign reminder" card in the mail, dated March 2009, in regards to a recall on the ignition switch of the 97 a4 1.8t's. I thought this was a strange thing to recall, especially on a nearly twelve year old car, but I'm going to have it done anyway.

Once again, for some reason, after all of the work you did, I doubt it's the ignition, but it's worth looking into.

 

everything was connected right? last time i checked my spark plugs. i didnt plug the wires back into the coil packs and i was going crazy trying to figure out what was wrong till i popped the hood and wanted to shoot myself.

 

how long did you start the car for? was it 2 seconds or was it long enough to know it is running? was the bumper the ONLY thing you touched between the time the car ran and the time it wouldnt?

a car only needs 3 things to start- fuel spark and compression. check to see which of those you dont have. you said the valve cover is leaking, so the oil is on the top part of the spark plugs? is it enough oil to interfere with spark delivery? try cleaning it off really good and maybe get some new plugs. NGK BKR6E's are good and cheap.

 

Double checked the spark plugs, they all are attached and I clean all the oil from the spark plug wells that i could, they're all tightened down to spec. I had ran the car for a good minute before shutting it off, and I only put the front bumper on! I guess I'm going to check my fuel pump and the fuel filter right now... this car is already becoming a nightmare.

 

dont worry so much its probably just something simple that you are overlooking that got disconnected in the front, unfortunately over the internet, we can only go by what you are saying. if you cant find anything, try taking the bumper back off and looking to see if anything is not connected or something.

 

Hopefully... Checked the spark plugs, got a spark, and smelled the gas. I'm going to take the bumper back off tomorrow and pray for the best. Should I hear kind of a whining noise from my intake manifold?

 

check your fuses. make sure the ECU fuse isnt blown or fuel pump fuse

 

+1...

did the car overheat real bad when the belt blew?

 

it did overheat, but only minimally, right after i noticed i lost power steering i pulled over and turned the car off, and that's when I noticed the car overheated. I waited about half an hour to drive the 3 remaining blocks home.