Hello all,
I will start with this my 1st Audi and I really don't the in's and out's like I do a Ford vehicle.

I purchased this as a project. A little background on me is I am a parts manager at a local Lincoln dealer and have access to the shop and tools here, I would like to dope this out myself and not have to ask my techs for too much as they are all working mandatory over time for the last 2 months and they are cranky...

A coworker purchased this car, a 1996 A4 Quattro 2.8 5spd, 2 weeks ago and starting having issues with no crank no start, the car could be jump started or push started. He replaced the battery and is having the same issues but now the car won't start even with a boost applied.

He gives up and sells me the car for $300 (he paid $2500) and buys a new focus. The car will pop start and drive but will not crank with key engaged.

I am going to start with load testing the new battery, checking and cleaning the connections, if no joy then on to step 2

now I will bypassing the clutch position switch and see if the starter will engage if not on to step 3

I guess now the next logical step is to inspect and test the starter, but I'm not looking forward to the r&r of the starter if that is the case (alldata has it listed as 3.4 hours to replace)

and from there I'm not sure, if anyone was any input on the steps I am taking or something that is more common on these rides relating to this issue, please reply

 

All right I checked the battery and that failed, replaced with a new motorcraft 650cca and still a no start.
I bypassed the clutch switch and still no action, gonna put it on the hoist and check the starter next (Saturday) and go from there.

 

i have been checking my relays and have a brand new starter and clutch switch. I also have cleaned all the grounds. I'm going to put to use my Multimeter next

 

Have you really looked at the cables to the starter, what I mean is did you cut back the casing and see if the cable is corroded inside of the casing? I was chasing a similar problem on my Merkur XR4TI and it ended up that the positive cable to the starter was so corroded inside of the casing that it was reducing the amount of power that cable was able to deliver to the starter and it would not engage.

 

For sure that's next on my list besides the relays.

 

Well when I had the car on the hoist tonight, I noticed that the starter was new and nuts were missing that secure the cables to the starter, replaced the nuts and drove the car out of the shop. So the hack shop that installed the starter for the previous owner is to blame for the no crank no start issues.

problem solved

 

Wow, but are you going to tell your co-worker that he lost $2,200 over a couple of 10-cent nuts?

 

Already did...