hello af,
the other day I went to a mexican restaurant and my car just wouldn't start up, it sounded a lot like my battery was dead but all the electronics inside and out of the car work perfectly. I tried jumping it right away and that didn't make any difference. I left the jumper cables attached for over 10 minutes to make sure my battery should be fully charged and it still didn't do anything. the engine very slowly turns once or a few times then stops. I thought maybe it was either a faulty battery not giving enough volts or my starter went bad. I tried checking the battery with an ohm meter and everything seemed normal. my uncle who is a mechanic was also helping me and he took the battery to get recharged just in case and took it to a shop to check if it was bad, they said it should be working perfectly. we hooked the battery up and it still didn't change anything. we tried starter fluid also and that didn't help at all. today I went back to the car to check on it and the manager of the restaurant was helping me too. we tried compression starting it and not even that worked.. when the clutch was let out the car would come to a stop like the brake was being pushed in but it wasn't. I thought if the starter was bad then compression starting should likely work.. I'm thinking maybe the problem is the starter but it's not completely bad.. does anyone else have any other ideas or suggestions what to do....?
also my dad's friend is offering me his b5 s4 with 70k for a very cheap price. it's well maintained and driven but autotragic and silver


tl;dr - what else could cause the car to act like the battery is almost dead? the battery is fine and compression starting made the car come to a stop rather than starting up. no cel

pic for clicks


also if anyone knows of any good cheap b5s in pa/nj let me know. preferably an avant that's 1.8t and not silver. not auto or fwd

 

Does your cel come on when you turn the key to the "on" position?

 

nope, no cel's..

 

Have you checked the distributor cap / rotor? My old eclipse wouldn't budge about a year ago, turned out to be a broken rotor. If that's your problem, it's an extremely easy (and cheap) fix.

 

You did not state what year or engine you have, but these cars do not have a distributor cap / rotor. I am betting on the battery, our cars need a lot of juice for all of the electronics and to turn over in the winter. How old is the battery, if it's 5 years or longer, try a replacement.

 

I've only been an A4 owner for 2 weeks (1 of them being spent in the shop), so that's definitely good to know for future reference. Thanks

 

sorry. my car is a 97 with a 12v engine. the battery is less than a month old which is why I thought it would likely be that I got a defective battery but it seems to be working fine and the shop I took it to tested it and said it's good to go. I haven't tried connecting my car directly to another battery though... I'll try doing that when I have a chance.. if a car's distributor had a problem wouldn't it crank normally but just not get spark? my car barely cranks at all

 

I would say you've got poor ground or power to your starter. It appears super cold there, and a roll start isnt really gonna cut it unless your pushed down a steep decline. The oil is super thick, so a weak starter is more then likely. I would also check the power and ground connections at the battery, the negative terminal to the chassis as well. The starter uses all the power from the battery when turning over, as it is very powerful so a bad connection could cause the problem. You don't have oil sludge or are using thick oil right?

 

+1 on a loose terminal / ground connection if the battery is only a month old. It is the proper rating as far as cold cranking amps?

 

my oil level itself is alright but I have had some oil problems due to (I'm pretty sure) a clogged egr valve. I've had starting problems before but the car would always start and never act like this. the battery specs are correct and according to the shop and an ohm meter it is working as it should. I'm hoping it is just a loose connection or something but I don't know how to check that. I am at school about an hour away from home and have no tools here but can have it towed to home for ~$140.. does anyone know a diy how to replace / get to the starter?