Hey guys and gals i am a new member on the site and a first ever owner of a audi! But it has problems and im hoping to get some advice on what the causes can be. its a 1996 12v 2.8 a4 5sp pearl white high miles i purchased for $400 yes as in 400 dollars i just couldnt refuse and had to pick it up..body is mint needs little work to be super nice..but it doesnt run and was told it needs a clutch i have heard the car run a few months ago as this car was owned by a friend of mine that was just not willing to diagnose it...he told me last time it ran he left it outside for a few weeks without starting it went to move it one day turned the ignition and all the lights turned on you heard the fuel pump kick on but the engine would not crank.. so as i got it home today i was messing with it hooked up a battery and it did the same thing he told me but the alarm was going nuts after a while..So i called him up and quized him and he told me while it was outside it happened to rain almost everyday it was out..So i started investigating and noticed the door locks dont work but everything else works and after an hour or so i got into the trunk pulled the carpet and on the passenger side i found this pump looking thing SUBMERGED in 5 inches of water. it has 3 electrical connectors pluged into it and 1 vacuum hose pluged into it....so my question is what is that called and could that be the culprit of not starting?

sorry i dont know technical audi terms as ive only been an owner for less then 3 hours..but i will also tell you the other things wrong with it just for you guys with the knowledge of audi will know everything

soaking wet pump in trunk

passenger side back door will not open period

no radio in car

idk if car should have key fob or not but i dont have one regardless


thanks guys in advance i tried searching but soaking wet pump thingy didnt come up very well lol

im very well mechanically inclined and if theres certain things i should try to help figure it out let me know what to do and i will do it

thanks Jon

 

Son, get a friend who knows about cars (Audi) or a mechanic and get a full check up on the car. For $400 you WILL expect A WHOLE HEAP of problems with the car. Yes it is said Audi's are expensive to maintain but once the car is in good condition and all is sorted. Maintaining the car is easy, minor checks once every few months and simply take care of it and it will take care of you.

 

You are talking about the central locking pump. It controls the locking system which is operated by vacuum.

I would start by checking all the fuses and scanning for codes (you can buy a vag com cable for $5 on ebay, the application VCDS Lite is free).

Pull the plugs and see what condition they are in. Do a compression test, etc.

You should be able to get the motor running regardless of the condition of the clutch.

 

george my friend im looking to fix it myself not waste my money at a garage when im 100% capable to do the repairs to the car. If i was gonna take it to the shop i would have never created this post! just because it was 400 bucks doesnt mean it has HEAPS of problems simply a guy with plenty other toys lost interest in it and wanted it gone..

BaseDrifter,

as i stated in the post i cant check compression as the car will not turn over but im positive it will run as ive heard it run a few months ago it had a bad clutch then so it never was beat on while my friend owned it..does that central locking pump have anything to do with the car being able to start? that appears to be the number one problem to me right now as i took the pump apart and the circuit board is a mess all rusty and most likely shorted out

 

The central locking pump would not prevent the car from starting, it's only purpose is to provide the vacuum that operates the locks. That said, if it was submerged in 5 inches of water, its a good bet lots of other stuff got wet that shouldn't have. When you click the key into the "on" position, what lights do you see on the gauges? When you try to start it, what noise(s) does it make?

 

All gauges function like normal all the lights turn on like any other vehicle fuel pump kicks on when I turn the key. Anything I should look for in particular? The engine light is on but it had no battery before so any codes I'm guessing are cleared..so most likely it's on to indicate it has power. Tomorrow I'm going to try and jump it off the starter to see what happens. It was in water but that pump is the only thing that's in that corner of the car. I ordered a pump off eBay for 30 bucks same model just to see bc to me it makes sense it ran before...sat out in the rain...then all the sudden no start .. Just to find this pump submerged in water..looks like ill need it regardless if its THE FIX or not...if anybody has anymore suggestions ill gladly look into it thanks

 

Again, the fact that the CLP was submerged in water makes me think that other bit and pieces that shouldn't be wet, probably got wet. Have you checked the fuses and relays in the engine compartment and in the passenger compartment? Checked the spark plugs?

 

you can turn the motor over by turning the crank. since it's a manual, have you tried pop starting it?

 

I haven't checked fuses yet will do today I'm going to buy a manual so I have alil more of an idea of where everything is at..haven't poped started due to mass amounts of snow and me living in the country roads are not very clear...plugs are fine like I said car has run within the last couple months and has a nice light brown burn to them..the back right tail light seal is rotted away and is the reason for water the clp is the only thing in there I see that has any kind of electrical connections to it back there. All three plugs that go in it are highly corrorded and the circuit board on the pump is deff bad

 

Open the ECU box under the hood and make its not also soaked.