I have an 03 a4 Quattro 1.8t and I had a water pump issue got that changed without taking the car apart only slipped the timing belt off now before I did that the car was struggling to start you had to push the gas pedal to the floor and it usually took about a minute to start. Now that the water pump has been changed and the timing belt put back on (with the car being at TDC) it won't start.

It has good pressure in the purge valve but you cannot hear the pump kick on. It just keeps cranking..

I bought a new fuel filter but have not yet installed it. It has good gas in it and it's been sitting about a month now. It has new plugs about a week ago have no miles on them cuz the car won't start(gapped correctly) they have a sticky residue on them when I pulled them out today to double check the gap.

I'm at a loss and can't afford a mechanic. Any ideas? Is it the pump even tho I have pressure? It's not priming that I hear checked several times for about 5 days.

Bngacs@yahoo.com

 

Did ya replace the timing belt and hydraulic tensioner? Doesnt sound like you did, might have jumped the belt and junked your engine, did you hand crank the motor to ensure proper reinstallment of belt before smashing the valves? Probably would do a compression test to make sure you didnt junk the engine

 

At this point the front end needs to be taken off so you can verify that the the timing is correct. It's very possible that the car isn't timed correctly - if it's off one tooth, it'll run poorly. If it's off two teeth, I could see it not starting but you won't wreck the valvetrain. Off by more than that and the potential is there for valve damage.

If you or a friend is decent with wrenching, verifying this is not difficult. It'll take some time but is not technically terribly difficult and there are DIYs out there that can help you with step by step instructions on how to do this.