I recently purchased a 1991 Volkswagen Jetta GL. German built (I know enough of the MKII to know not to buy any other than the German ones), 173k, 5-speed (O'course) 8v motor.

The car was sitting for well over a month, but it started just fine. There was some sputtering upon acceleration and full-throttle situations. I wrote this off as a mildly gummed up fuel system. I ran half a bottle of injector cleaner in half a tank of gas. And then the other half in a full tank. This cleared up the stumbling, sputtering bit the motor was doing.

I replaced the front rotors and pads, plugs and plug wires. The battery was thought to need replacement, but it turned out it had just been somewhat weak from no use and a small parasitic drain on the electrical system. Essentially, this is all stuff that I'm used to from the six cars I've owned thus far. This is basic crap.

Now here's where it starts to go wrong...

Last week, it supposedly ran out of gas in my driveway. I went to start it for the first time of the day (to leave) and it wouldn't fire. The gas gauge read 1/4 and I could hear some gas sloshing in the tank when I bounced the rear end. But no dice..
I ran up to the Shell station and grabbed two-ish gallons of gas in a can and put it in my car. Applying a small amount of throttle, I cranked the car up and it fired no problem. It ran like crap for a just a mo', but it smoothed out lickity split.

The problem is, from that day on, it required a little bit of throttle when the motor was cold to get the engine to fire. When it was warmed up a bit, it'd start without throttle application just fine.

I've taken the Jetta (Affectionately named 'Olga') on 200 mile round trips on the interstate at 70mph. That's 3,500 revs and the car performed flawleslly. I'd never push it past that point, however. I'm not at all abusive and I take care of my cars.

I drove the car to my friend's house the other day to borrow a tool from him, which is a 3.2 mile trip exactly. Went into his garage, got the tool, came out, turned the key and it was acting like the battery had gone flat. Cranking over uber slow, getting weaker. I asked my friend for a jump. When we connected the jumper clamps, the negative battery cable turned out to have severed from the terminal itself. Reconnecting it, I tried starting the car again. It was cranking fine, spinning the motor over at a normal speed, but it wouldn't fire.

Nothing's changed. It's still sitting in front of his house. I've yet to check for spark (It was dark and his back was bothering him), but pulling out the #4 spark plug proved that it was bone dry.
I went over every wire and connection I could find in that engine bay. I checked the fuses. Gas gauge reads that I've half a tank. The battery isn't weak. The car just will not fire.

Discuss.

 

I heard something about the in-tank transfer fuel pump? If that had begun to go out on me, would that have caused my cold starting issue maybe? If it were broken, would it be causing my car not to run? Or would it run off the main pump alone?

 

turn the key almost to the point where it starts. if all is quiet and no buzzing is heard, check the fuelpump. if nothing is heard have someone with a stethiscope listen to the tank while youturn the key forward. i know that this trick works on GMC pickups. not sure about VWs tho.

 

Did I not state in my original post that the main fuel pump audibly primes? That's the first thing I check for before starting any car.

 

ok sorry. you metioned it in your second post. i missed it. ummm distributer maybe? or intake. just throwing out ideas here.

 

After replacing the negative battery cable and attempting to start the car (For kicks...)...I quickly pulled my spark plugs and saw that they are bone dry. #1 had a faint odor of gasoline, but that was it. All of the other plugs are completely dry... I didn't even bother checking for spark, as there's nothing to ignite.......

This just sucks that the car would randomly decide to die on me. It ran perfectly fine on the way over to my friend's house, and then when I tried to start it to leave, it just wouldn't go.

The negative battery cable did snap off, which was causing the uber slow cranking. I'm thinking that maybe my ECU *DID* fry. Which is bad. That, or one of my fuel pumps has crapped out.

Hellllllp!