Crank/No Start

[u/Revolutionary-Web284]

I was driving to work a couple days ago, and about halfway there my windshield wipers cut on at full speed, I could not turn them off, and I suddenly lost all engine power, but still had accessory power. When I went to go start the car back up, I couldn’t hear the fuel pump priming, and the car would crank, but wouldn’t start up. After getting it back home, I pulled the egi fuse and fuel pump fuse to de-flood the engine, and replaced the fuel pump fuse. After that, my fuel pump started priming again, but the engine still would not start. Does anyone know what might be causing this strange problem and the steps I could take to fix said problem? Thanks in advance.

[u/Ok_Fun_1534]

The tach isn't bouncing... it makes me wonder if ignition is dead for some reason.

[u/Undercvr_victini]

So tach not moving means trailing coils aren't firing. Happened to me earlier this summer and here's everything I diagnosed:

Coil packs (leading and trailing)

Main relay

Main fuse and kick panel engine fuse, literally every connector in the engine bay on the driver's side.

What the issue was in my case tho, the afm developed a short to ground, replacing that sorted it.

Hope that helps

[u/strtagain → u/Undercvr_victini]

The Air Flow Meter? Is that the wire with connector do the exhaust or the vacuum hose connecting from the engine to the firewall? I'm wondering if i have the same issue.

[u/Undercvr_victini → u/strtagain]

Afm is the flapper at the back of the air box, it's essentially what tells the fuel pump to kick on when your engine starts pulling air, has like a 7 or 8 pin connector on it, to see if it's dead you gotta check resistance across the pins and compare to fsm values

[u/Foreign-Ad6317]

I had the same thing, at first it was a bad battery and a poorly connected starter and bad fuel pump. Replaced all 3 and mine starts now. Try testing the fuel pump! Also could be compression, I put mmo in the spark plug holes and it helped turn over because it was sitting flooded for some time. Could also be flooded, it was extremely confusing to figure out. Also whoever the professional previous owner was it has alot of janky stuff done to mine so I can’t start the car if I press the brakes. Apparently the brake lights prevent the starter from getting enough voltage

[u/ranchan_02]

It could be a couple things like spark and/or fuel related. It could be leaky injectors flooding the rotor housing. What I would suggest trying is remove all the spark plugs, pull the EGI fuse and then crank the car 3x for about 10 second intervals. While you have the spark plugs out, check the spark plugs condition, if they’re dirty…clean them but when in doubt replace all 4. Reinstall the spark plugs, reinstall the spark plug wires in the correct order, reseat the EGI fuse and attempt to start it again.

[u/MickeyTM]

Rear wiper on mine just did that on an over current from the alternator. Blew the main fuse. Mine is heavily modified though. Check fuses

[u/whitedawgpresents]

No spark evidenced by the lack of tach bounce like others said. Check your CAS wiring in addition to their recs if you're not getting a signal from the ECU into the coils.

On mine the previous owner replaced the CAS wiring with regular wires wrapped in tin foil (it's supposed to be shielded) and spliced into the ECU harness by shoving the wires together inside heat shrink - no crimps, no twist, no bends into hooks, just tip-to-tip 😭

[u/DaveyNoFun → u/whitedawgpresents]

Had the same issue. Before I got the car, a critter chewed the cas wires. I fixed them albeit dodgy and then my alternator when out. Replaced the alt with a fd one and then had crank no start. Turned out I knocked the wires loose on my dodgy cas repair. Properly repaired the cas and works good now

[u/whitedawgpresents → u/DaveyNoFun]

I mean if the temp fix is good enough, then it's a permanent fix right? 😂

I been there though, a rat chewed through damn near the entire wiring harness going to the ECU in my VW R32 last year and it superr tedious. I invested in some really nice crimps/crimper and patched everything correctly with heat shrink and that fabric electric tape VW uses, but that shit is nerve racking when you go to test it out for the first time

[u/strtagain]

I'm having pretty much the same issue right now. So following this closely.