slowguy

As soon as I bought this car (about a month ago), I got on the forum started reading and did super maintenance to it. Got everything back together, car runs like a champ except for a few quirks and took the wife to eat at a nearby resturant (this was about an hour ago). Came out, turned the car over, and nothing!. Cranks like crazy but no ignition and no codes. Acts like no fuel.

I've been stuck because of fuel pumps before and this is what, at first glance, it seems like. I won't know for sure until I tow it this afternoon to my work (which is the nearest place to bring it).

I had been planning on getting AAA, but didn't imagine in a million years that it would happen THE SECOND TIME I drove the car. This is a REALLY bad sign, but so far I am assuming it's just dumb luck (has always been the case when my luck is concerned).

Looking through the bentley manual now so I can pull the rear seat and check the pump. Unreal!!

SloopJohnB@mac.com

Go back and review you maintenance actions. Chances are you broke something or bumped a line or connection.

slowguy

Just stopped by there (to make sure it hadn't been towed) and pulled the back seat. There is definitely no fuel pump action. Will be able to tell if no power there when I get it back to my work or if it's actually the pump.

Chipping the car recently could not have put undo stress or cause premature failure of the pump, could it?

meternerd

I never had much luck hearing the fuel pump. Are you sure you don't have the very common coolant temeprature sensor problem. It will start fine when cold, but not when warm. No code will show up. If it starts after you let it cool off for a while, I'll bet that's your problem.

AlphaParticles

When was the last time you changed the fuel filter? blockage of the fuel filter could cause the engine from starting. Does the car turn over, start then die or just turn and never really start?

slowguy

well, I think I found the culprit - the "wonderful" chip tuning from apr. checked the pump-ok, checked fuel at fuel rail - ok. Curious so I plugged in a code reader and got a ecu memory code. did a search on google, common problem with chip tuning errors. REALLY upset about this. $300 for a tow, stranded at a resturant, tore the car apart looking for a problem, and come to find out it's because of a flash problem.

SloopJohnB@mac.com

I had problems with the 'chip tuning' on my S6 right after I bought it used in August 08 w/64K miles on it.
Thankfully it was under Audi warranty and the tech tried to properly resolder all the connections to the ECU but eventually gave up and installed a brand new ECU from Germany. Took a week to get here...evidently there were no stray S6 ECUs in country.

Point here is that the previous owner had to remove the OEM ECU and send it out to get rechipped or whatever..at least the newer cars can get reflashed/reprogrammed through the OBDII port or somesuch. The chip replacement may be good but the technique involved varies wildly from technician to technician.....and things go to hell in a hurry with electronics with bad grounding, static electricity, and just plain poor soldering technique or equipment.

When things don't work right on a car that has been modified like yours, perhaps the best thing to do is bring it back to OEM specifications.

slowguy

it is an 04 a6. I will have to wait and see what apr says about this. I have already been shopping for new ecu's and done some research on the nightmare it may be to swap ecus, pin numbers, immobilizer, etc. All I know is that I paid a lot of money to have the ecu programmed and to have it fail a couple of weeks later is totally unacceptable.

SloopJohnB@mac.com

How far to an APR dealer? Or did you remove your ECU and send it to them for the chip tune?

There can be a lot of problems with people who remove their own ECU and send them out and then reinstall them.

Like on my S6...the soldering/connectors were bush league and at first thought to be the source of the problem. However, the real cure was a new ECU.

slowguy

I sent it in. The removal and reinstallation was pretty straight forward. Besides the fact that it worked for about a week and then just stopped 100% with the p0601 code. There is a guy/company north of milwaukee that is an authorized apr dealer. I think, however, he is a "one-man-show" and kind of hard to meet up with. It really doesn't matter now, unless someone makes a trip to me because the car is completely immobile. The ecu has to be sent away.