Need Help, Car shut off, wont start.

[Nemesis2747]

Give me some ideas! i was on my way home from work and stopped at an intersection my car just turned off as i was about to pull off. And it will not start for ANYTHING. I have VAGCOM and scans didnt show anything other than my exhaust temp sensors failing which Ive seen since i bought the car last year. Its a 2003 A6 2.7T 6MT. Car is flashed with GIAC. Other than having to replace the battery and alternator over the summer and just today my control arm kit came in from ECS, the car hasnt given me many issues. The spark plugs are all new, gapped at .028 i think it was, and the coils are being replaced as they die, 6, 5, and 1 so far. The ABS Control Module was sent out for repair and came back working! ESP and ABS work fine. Always fed it 93 from BP, oil changed every 4k with Castrol 0W-40. I just did and drivers side valve cover gasket replacement right before an oil change. PCV hose replacement was done months ago. Coolant flush just done and still trying to get air out of the heater core, think its about done heat is on and hot. Timing belt was done at 90K by the dealer, its at 148K now.

The car was about to run low on gas and i was on my way to the gas station. I didnt get the low gas alert yet, but i wasn't far. Thought it ran dry and i rolled it to the gas station and gave it 4 gallons but nothing. Ive been reading around and some people suggest the cam position sensor, Coolant Temp sensor, Fuel Pump relays, fuel pump fuses, the fuel pump. Im not sure where to start. I have a Bentley Manual and feel somewhat comfortable attacking this, i just dont want to spend too much money taking guesses at what it could be. How do i trouble shoot this? Thanks in advance.

[a4kamila6]

Well it seems you have kept up with general maintenance. Personally im not sure what would cause this. Dont wanna pull things out my ass but when you turn key to on position, do you have power? does everything light up, do you hear any beeps? When you try to start it, do you hear the starter or the typical dead battery sound? Is the engine turning over and not catching?

Or when you turn key to ON or try to start it, you hear nothing, nothing happens, just complete dead, no power either?


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[Nemesis2747]

Oh it cranks, it cranks hard. Sometimes the RPMs climb a bit and it feels like its about to start then just goes back to cranking. Flooring the gas doesn't do anything. I tried it while hot, i walked home came back 2 hours later and tried when it was cold and no difference. If i keep cranking the battery is going to die. Im about to take the battery out and slap a charger/maintainer on it. But yea everything else work fine, i did get a low oil warning on the dash, big red LCD picture, but oil levels are perfect since i just changed it. I unplugged the oil temp sensor to see if anything changed and nope.

[Nemesis2747]

On an interesting note, does anyone know if one of those high flow fuel pumps would drop in the stock "basket"? And what ,if any, things do i have to modify to make it work? A Bosch pump is still less than an after market replacement of the original.

[Black-Forest]

Since you mention the car was low on fuel and from my experience in tank fuel pumps dislike being run on low fuel I would start with checking the fuel pump and see if you have fuel pressure

[frankwizzle]

On an interesting note, does anyone know if one of those high flow fuel pumps would drop in the stock "basket"? And what ,if any, things do i have to modify to make it work? A Bosch pump is still less than an after market replacement of the original.

DW300 ftw, it will handle well over stage 3. It's like $150 and just needs o-rings to fit snugly in the basket.

[OGBULLYLOCDAWG]

If you're getting activity on the RPM gauge and you're getting spark, I'd lean towards it being the fuel pump.

[Nemesis2747]

Looks like everything is pointing to a bad pump. I'm going to pull it out tomorrow and see if it's getting power. If it is ima give a few good taps with a mallet and if it doesn't wake up its getting replaced with that DW300, looks good.

[Nemesis2747]

OK SO. I cracked open the gas tank. The wire harness going to the top of the pump shows 3-4 volts with just the key in the on position and when i turn the key to start it jumps to 11.5. Pump doesn't make any noise. I took the pump and my battery out and gave the pump 12 volts straight from the battery. Its dead. Amazon has the DW300 universal kit for $145 with tax and 2 day shipping. Looks like im going to be driving around by Wednesday. I hope, today was first snowfall in New York City.

[a4kamila6]

It snowed till like 830 here in queens, i was so bummed. Thought maybe tonight id do some snow drifts in parking lot


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[Nemesis2747]

It snowed till like 830 here in queens, i was so bummed. Thought maybe tonight id do some snow drifts in parking lot


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THIS is why im sad i missed first snow fall. Drifting in these cars is so much fun.

[Nemesis2747]

SHE STARTED!!!! Making the DW300 Universal kit work with our cars is pretty straight forward. I used my solder station to remove the 2 stock pump wires and replace it with the connector for the DW300. Black 12V becomes Red, and Brown ground is now black. The hose crosses over. The sock filter does not fit when you lower it into its home. I had to break it off and rotate so it doesn't stick out so much. The pump is slightly slimmer than OEM so find a way to hold it in place.

The car feels really different. The idles used to bounce sometimes and you would feel the engine like.. shake. Now it's butter smooth. And I swear she pulls harder and earlier in the RPMs. And the RPMs don't just drop when I let off the gas, they come down smoothly. I like this pump so far. The smell of gas in my car though, not so much. Thanks for your help everyone! Especially the guy that recommended the pump. With 320LPH I shouldn't have issues when I throw some injectors and F21 turbos in there.

[frankwizzle]

Good job bud! You just described my dw300 install to the tee. I got a package of o rings from either pep boys or harbor freight to get the pump to stay in the sleeve. Gas smell went away after about a week.

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