Ignition Lock Cylinder shit the bed or safety feature?

[AaronJustin]

Hey all, first post on this forum. If I'm in the wrong area, tell me how to move it/ and where to move it and I gladly will.
Let me start off by saying, buying an 05 Audi S4 with 130k miles was definitely a risk with well known timing chain issues, but I went with it anyways.
It's treated me good for a month and a half now.

I was driving around 35/40 coming home yesterday and lost power when accelerating, and the car jerked all the way home (which wasn't even 5 minutes away, else I'd have it towed).
I tried starting it after I got home to see what was wrong and it wouldn't turn over, just crank.
I assumed it was the coil packs with the loss of power while accelerating so I swapped out all 8 coil packs (mainly because I wasn't sure when the last owner did and I had the time to do it), and still no start.
I then put 8 new sparkplugs in, and still no start only cranking.
When I put the key in the ignition and move it to the on position, the lights come on, but I hear a click (spark?) noise come from the hood. I try starting the car and it doesn't turn over, still just cranks EXCEPT that when I move the key back to the on position, the ignition lock cylinder locks the cylinder from starting the car unless I move the key back to the insert position and take it out and put it back in.
In other words, the 1st position being off, the 2nd position being on and the 3rd position being cranking, I can go from 1 to 2 to 3, but when I go back from 3 to 2 it locks 3.

Any thoughts? The faster the answers the better, because I'm judging at a car show this Sunday and would love to bring my own car.

Thanks in advance, and sorry again if this is in the wrong section.

[nogaroblu]

the "locking" from going from 2nd to 3rd after coming from 3rd to 2nd is normal = not your problem

has it started and ran since this has happened? have you tried your spare keys?

[AaronJustin]

When I bought the car, I only got one key, I was planning on going down to the dealer and getting another key on Thursday/ my pay day. I called the dealer and tried explaining my problem, but they said that if the transponder in the key wasn't working, the car "wouldn't get any power."
And no, it has not started since I made it back from the time it had problems accelerating.

[AaronJustin]

talked to previous owner's mechanic who replaced the starter, said he put in a bosch, and that the starter most likely isn't the issue + I tried the headlight test and it doesn't seem to be the starter.
I can hear the fuel pump prime as well.

So, I'm about 95% certain that the spark is good (unless I made a stupid mistake, but I've been over everything I did quite a lot)
The fuel has never been an issue.
That leaves compression, or electrical, right?
It didn't seem to have any compression issues before I bought it.
My main concern is that if I have it towed to the dealership in hopes that it's just the transponder in the key, and they make a new key but it still doesn't start, that my car is 22 miles away (22 to there and 22 back for towing).

[nogaroblu]

if it were the starter it would not crank.

your best bet would be to scan it for malfunctions, without that, its hard to even know where to start looking other than the obvious fuel, battery, etc.

[AaronJustin]

Vag com I'm assuming. OBD2 gives me nothing whatsoever, and I don't have access to vag com, but I guess I'll try to get in touch with someone who does.

[JimmyBones]

Get some supplies (latex/disposable gloves, towels or shop rags, and a large empty bottle (like a coolant bottle, washer fluid bottle, or 2 liter soda botttle)), open the hood, disconnect the fuel rail line with some wrenches (the nut is a 17 mm and the rail holder is a 14 mm), put the fuel line into the open bottle and position the bottle on the right/passenger's side of the engine, and finally go crank the engine for like five rotations. You are looking for a good amount of fuel to be in the bottle. If like nothing comes out then you know that you have a problem.

The most likely cause of a lack of power and then the engine cranking but not starting is a lack of fuel. The fuel filter could be clogged up pretty good or you could be low on gas, especially if your gauge is off.

The other things that I have seen which would cause the engine to run funky and then crank but not start are a shredded serpentine belt or a bad crank position sensor. Usually though the red battery light would come on after the belt shreds. The crank position sensor would cause the engine to die at times and not start also.

Checking for fault codes would help drastically too.

[AaronJustin]

I just got home from work in my spare car, and disconnected what you said, and put it the line into an empty bottle and nothing went into it. I tried turning it over around 6 or 7 times. I actually just ordered a ross tech obd2 to usb, but it won't get here for awhile. I am grateful that it's narrowed down to the fuel system.

Would the first/best thing to try is to go to the gas station and fill up a 2 gal container and try pouring into the audi? Or do you think I should leave it where it is fuel level wise and try to look at the filter and the pump?

The gauge is saying that there is a little less than a quarter tank left.

[AaronJustin]

Also, would a slight gradation in my driveway potentially make it so that the fuel pump can't reach the gasoline in the tank?

[924Carrera]

I just got home from work in my spare car, and disconnected what you said, and put it the line into an empty bottle and nothing went into it. I tried turning it over around 6 or 7 times. I actually just ordered a ross tech obd2 to usb, but it won't get here for awhile. I am grateful that it's narrowed down to the fuel system.

Would the first/best thing to try is to go to the gas station and fill up a 2 gal container and try pouring into the audi? Or do you think I should leave it where it is fuel level wise and try to look at the filter and the pump?

The gauge is saying that there is a little less than a quarter tank left.

Based on what you've described and my own personal experience, I'd highly recommend the 2 gallons of gas. This happened to me, unfortunately not at home, but in the middle of another state at night in complete darkness. Fortunately I was near a freeway exit and was able to walk a mile and get gas. The fuel level sending units on these cars are evidently not the most reliable, and I had simply run completely out of gas, experiencing the same symptoms you described in your first post. I had just under a quarter tank left on the gauge and "105 miles to empty" showing on the DIC.

If adding gas still doesn't help, then it could be a pump issue, but adding the gas won't hurt anything. I'd bet money on you having the car fire right up, and believe me when I say it will be a really relieving feeling.

[AaronJustin]

I'm going to be laughing my ass off tomorrow morning when it starts right up after just adding gas, and I'm definitely going to back into my driveway from now on if that's the case haha

[prfktgntlmn]

[noob5]

OP,
Where in CT are you located?

[AaronJustin]

OP,
Where in CT are you located?

Enfield, you?

[AaronJustin]

I added gas, unfortunately not the problem. I jacked up the back of the car, going to replace fuel filter, because I'm not sure when the last owner did it, and if I'm going to see if it's clogged, I might as well put a new one in since I'm down there. Hopefully it's not the fuel pump, it's never given me issues before, but I guess I'll just have to see

[AaronJustin]

Napa, Autozone, and advanced Auto don't have the fuel filter, so it looks like I can't do anything with that.

[AaronJustin]

Get some supplies (latex/disposable gloves, towels or shop rags, and a large empty bottle (like a coolant bottle, washer fluid bottle, or 2 liter soda botttle)), open the hood, disconnect the fuel rail line with some wrenches (the nut is a 17 mm and the rail holder is a 14 mm), put the fuel line into the open bottle and position the bottle on the right/passenger's side of the engine, and finally go crank the engine for like five rotations. You are looking for a good amount of fuel to be in the bottle. If like nothing comes out then you know that you have a problem.

The most likely cause of a lack of power and then the engine cranking but not starting is a lack of fuel. The fuel filter could be clogged up pretty good or you could be low on gas, especially if your gauge is off.

The other things that I have seen which would cause the engine to run funky and then crank but not start are a shredded serpentine belt or a bad crank position sensor. Usually though the red battery light would come on after the belt shreds. The crank position sensor would cause the engine to die at times and not start also.

Checking for fault codes would help drastically too.

I got a filter from the dealership, replaced it, and still nothing is getting into the bottle. I'm leaning towards fuel pump issues, but no codes. Any thoughts?

[noob5]

Enfield, you?

Oh, damn...I'm at the bottom of the state in Orange.
If we were closer, I was going to offer the VCDS.

[AaronJustin]

Update: Just going to replace the pump tomorrow, if that isn't it. Then I'm going to have to go to a mechanic :( rip