magz

In my never-ending quest to get my POS 90q (10v) running I've determined that now I'm getting no spark. I bought a spark plug tester from Autozone for $7, hooked it up to the wire going from the ignition coil to the distributor cap, and cranked while my buddy watched. Nothing. Played with the gap on the tool, still nothing. Took the plug and held it next to a metal plate on the engine and cranked just in case the tester was bad. Still nothing.

Figured it was the ignition coil, since if there's no spark coming from there nothing else would fire. Went to the local U-Pull today and pulled one off another 90q. Swapped it in and hooked the harness back up. Turned the key while my dad watched, still nothing coming from that wire. Swapped the wire itself with one I pulled from the same car at the U Pull just in case the wire itself took a dump. Still nothing.

Any ideas? I'm at a loss.

4corners

cap and rotor? timing belt? fp relay? hall sender? ignition switch? could be any of these.

AudiSport4000

Thats what you gotta figure out. Maybe a faulty fuel pump relay (on the 4kq, it deals with spark as well!). An easy test would be to remove the FP relay and jumper the 2 LARGE terminals. This will make the fuel pump click on, then try and start the car.
Is the ignition distributor properly adjusted? If its out of range it may cause a no spark condition?
Just a few ideas.

AudiSport4000

Damn, ya beat me by a few mins ;P

magz

The thing with the distributor is that spark isn't even getting to the cap period. If it was getting from the coil to the cap and dying there it'd be way easier to figure out.

Tell me more about the FP relay though. I can hear the pump turn on I think when I turn the key over (hear a buzzing coming from the front/left side of the car). Since this is my first Audi (I'm a VW guy) I don't have a Bentley or anything for reference. Where is the FP relay on the 4000? And does anyone know if it's in the same spot as the 90?

AudiSport4000

But, it can also cause the car to not spark. I found this out the hard way a few years ago. Remove the fuel pump relay (unsure where its at on your car, should be listed under the fusebox panel). Get a nice size wire (nothing wimpy), and jumper the 2 large terminals for the relay spot for the FP relay. Fuel pump comes on immediately, then try and turn her over.

4corners

take off the oil filler cap and watch while the engine is turned over. No cam movement=t-belt problems. The fp relay can be bad and not allowing spark so jumper that for the next test.

magz

So I just went outside (in the rain, joy) and pulled out the Fuel Pump Relay. It was labeled #16 or something to that effect on the box and said 215 (IIRC) on the actual relay. It was the only one with a spot for a fuse on top. When I pulled it out I noticed there were a few thick prong-style spades (one of which was copper) and a few smaller ones. Which 2 spots do you bridge exactly to make a connection?

Also the spades themselves looked straight and relatively clean. 2 had some small black marks on them but nothing too serious.

Thoughts?

AudiSport4000

Jumper the two LARGE terminals

chefbob

just pop the dist cap off and see if the rotor is moving