Hey everybody! I was offered this car after the owner brought it to a mechanic close by to where I work, I don’t really know what happened. But what I heard was that it came here on a truck but it was driven into a parking spot close by, so he was just getting less power or something. Then it just stopped starting up for some reason after that, I don’t even know if anyone even touched it.

Well now I got the car back in the house and I went out to check the car with my mom. I had her crank it while I was listening to see if I heard the fuel pump under the car by the passenger side rear wheel. After 2 times, my mom said she smelt something burning. I open the hood and I see a little bit of smoke simmer up by the right of an engine then go away (smoke only came out that one time, no smoke all the other times we tried). I went back to listening to the fuel pump and I thought I heard a little engine go on and for 1/4th of a second after my mom stopped turning the key.

I made a video of what I was just talking about right here:
1998 Audi A4 1.8T Wont Start - YouTube

Please it would mean the world to me if anyone were to give any suggestions on the problem and solution for this car.

Thank you.

 

The smoke kind of sounds like a starter wire overheating, But as far as it not starting, did you check the timing belt, kind of sounds like it might have jumped or broke, You need 3 things to start, Compression, fuel and spark, so if it's not the timing belt i would start by a spark check, and if you have it run a compression check too while you have the plugs out.

 

Okay is there a way to check the timing belt without having to jack it up? I got a lot of scrap metal in my drive port and I still have to figure out how I'm going to get rid of it. And what exactly would I be looking for in a bad timing belt? Not spinning? Lateral movement? Missing teeth? Sorry I'm not too mechanically savvy so sometimes I have trouble understanding these things.

And the last time I tried starting the car, like I said in the description for the youtube video, my friend said he saw a big spark in the top right of the engine bay. Could this be a starter as well as timing belt kind of issue?