A2 1.6 FSI doesn't start anymore

joHey

joHey

New Member
Hello,

Few weeks ago I was driving with our A2 (1.6 fsi) and the car started to shake like crazy as I was driving.
At the beginning it was only at low revs and after few minutes at low and high revs. I've pulled over and shut off the car... And it never started again.

It's not a battery problem and the car doesn't even try to start when I turn the key (if that makes sense).

The car was at a local dealership (not audi) and he wasn't able to find the problem... Nothing on their computer but it's not a VAG COM.

I've searched on this forum (very informative I have to say !) and it appears that my problem can be a crankshaft and camshaft sensors.
I've ordered both as they are not expensive and I'll try next week to install them.

Do you think that I'm completely wrong or it can be the solution ?

After that if this didn't work I think my only solution will be to go to and Audi dealer but they are not great at all (I've had bad previous experiences) in my area and as always... $$$...

Thank you in advance for your help!
 
joHey said:
It's not a battery problem and the car doesn't even try to start when I turn the key (if that makes sense).
Click to expand...

Could you clarify this, when you turn the key does the starter motor spin the engine? If not it might be a simple earth problem.
 
Catnip64 said:
Could you clarify this, when you turn the key does the starter motor spin the engine? If not it might be a simple earth problem.
Click to expand...

When I turn the key nothing happens.

The motor doesn't even try to start (like when you've got a low battery), their is not '' ticking '' noise... Nothing at all.
 
joHey said:
When I turn the key nothing happens.

The motor doesn't even try to start (like when you've got a low battery), their is not '' ticking '' noise... Nothing at all.
Click to expand...
In that case check the earth for the engine, it's behind the drivers headlight (assuming yours is a LHD car).

Here's a thread with some useful information:

A new earth

So today i tried to establish if a bad earth, (the one under the passenger headlight) was the cause of an issue I had with the car the other day. Unfortunately, despite a healthy dose of penetrating oil and winding the bolt back and forth...it sheared. Now I need to ask the following...
www.a2oc.net
 
Andrew said:
Some excellent pictures by Birdfish here showing the location of the chassis end of the earth strap if you need it.

Andy
Click to expand...

Thanks for the help Catnip64 and Andrew.

I'll talk about the earth point to my mechanic so he can look at this before replacing the crankshaft and camshaft sensors.
 
Why o why would a garage consider changing cam and crank sensors when the engine is not even cranking! Best thing you can do before anything else is find a garage!!
A temp earth or bump start is the best place to start costing 5 mins labour!
My gut feeling is telling me you could have a timing belt failure due to the shaking of the engine but lets not jump to concluesions!!
 
1: Find a different mechanic - and get a couple of references).
2: Get the new mechanic to do a few basic mechanical checks, such as removing the plugs and gently turning the engine over, by hand, to check on the engine's condition. If it is as @Howey suggests, spinning the engine via the starter will only make things worse.
Mac.
 
Check if the dash lights are on when you switch ignition on. If not, suspect switch. I know you had a scan, but, if ignition switch is suspect, then "nothing" (a vague term, from no faults to no comms), could be the result.
You need to choose from two possibilities, electrical or mechanical (engine), and get basic checks done to confirm the choice, or eliminate it. I don't think it matters which you choose, as it'll end up being the other one!
A good mechanic would do this without promoting.
Mac.
 
PlasticMac said:
Check if the dash lights are on when you switch ignition on. If not, suspect switch. I know you had a scan, but, if ignition switch is suspect, then "nothing" (a vague term, from no faults to no comms), could be the result.
You need to choose from two possibilities, electrical or mechanical (engine), and get basic checks done to confirm the choice, or eliminate it. I don't think it matters which you choose, as it'll end up being the other one!
A good mechanic would do this without promoting.
Mac.
Click to expand...

I've no dash light when I turn the ignition on. By no lights I mean, no strange one... And when the car had his ''seizure'' no check engine light.

I'll take all your advices into account. Thanks again.

I'll talk with the mechanic next week and I'll keep you updated.
 
I've no first hand experience with ignition barrel wear out / failures but maybe it's possible the first 'ignition on' stage works but the start and run positions don't. Intermittent interruption of power to the engine could possibly have also caused the engine to die.

To test the theory I guess it should not be too difficult to bypass the contacts within the ignition barrel and 'hot wire' it to see if it starts

Cheers Spike
 
Hello,

The car has started !!

As suggested by many of you it was an earth problem.

Thank you everybody for your help and special thanks to Andrew for the link with the pics of the earth strap location behind the headlamp.
I've showed it to the mechanic and said to him '' don't search for silly stuff anymore please do that now ''

Now that the car is running, I can take care of some other few things and take it back home for a deep clean :)
 
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