My 1999 A6 Avant won't start.

It's been sitting in the driveway for the past two days where nighttime temperatures dropped to -30 C.

I initially started it yesterday and the check engine light came on (this is the first time this ever happened) and then the check engine light started to blink. As soon as I saw this I turned off the car. Since that time and after numerous attempts the car still won't start. Daytime temp is about -18 C. Engine is cranking but won't catch.

Any Ideas?

At the same time I tried the windshield wipers and they got all messed up. I think that the driver side windshield wiper arm came loose...I can jiggle it easily with my hand...is this easy to fix?


Any comments and suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

if the CEl light started flashing it usually indicates a misfire, misfire can be related to bad coil. try pulling out the plugs first and see if their fouled or covered in fuel or oil, if not cahnces are its the coil. it would be best if you rent or buy a cheap code scanner and get teh codes.

 

You might have flooded it bad by shutting it off so quick, if it was missing it might have been dumping gas in, and now its just sitting in there. I have had to hold my gas down and crank for a long time every once and a while when it was -20 F, so you might wanna try that. The plugs could be fouled, so they might need to be replaced. Its possible you have bad compression with the gas that leaked in. I dont know too much about it but there was another thread with a similar issue, the recommendation was to poor a little oil into the cylinder to get it to seal for better compression and replace the plugs. It sounds like you have a missfire issue though too, so it could be a bad coil pack, sprak plug, Ignition Control Module.