It was a bit cold, and the battery was dead. The girlfriend may or may not have hooked the charger up to the battery backwards... Not sure. Now the car won't start!. I have no signal to the coil, distributor, no pulse on the injectors, and the brand new knock sensor is registering resistance when I crank it. This is a '95 Jetta GL with the 2.0 L engine. I'm at wit's end. I don't want to think it could be the computer, but is there a check to know if it is?
Any help would be stellar!

Thanks, Chris

 

Did you replace the battery? Could be a bad connection or bad battery wires.

 

Sorry, forgot to mention an oh-so important detail: The starter cranks fine. The battery has a full charge, and I will check the wires from the battery today, but I am fairly certain that isn't the issue. Thank you very much for your reply though.

Come on guys... my buddies talked me into this Vdub... it's my first experience with German engineering, and so far not so good. I almost want my MR2 back! Any other suggestions what is wrong with my poor little Jetta?

 

Have you checked your relays? Especially if your girlfriend did cross the wires she could have fried a few things. If your starter is cranking I would bet on a problem in the ignition system.

 

there's some fuses and relays and toehr crap unde rthe hood, check all that and the fuse block inside the car, if they are all good I may have one more trick

 

Thanks so far... sorry I have been out of town, so I haven't checked it all out yet. Hang in there and thank you!

 

could be a fuel pump, fuel filter could be no spark, could be clogged fuel system, so pull one of the plugs and see if it sparks do that on all of them one at a time, do a fuel pressure test, i think thats all i can think of

 

Ok, just got back from out of town. Thanks for all the great advice so far!
First- No spark whatsoever, on any of the plugs.
I checked all the fuses (I think)... in the fuseblock anyway. I can't find any under the hood except on that big relay under the reservoir. How can you check a relay though? I only have limited car savvy as I said.
I don't have the tools for a fuel pressure test, but may be able to find a friend that does, so I will try that when the sun comes back up.

Somebody told me that there is a fuse for the ECM power, but where the heck is that?

I got a full wiring diagram for the car from a friend that has access to Miller software (?) at the Tires Plus he works at, but I'm not having too much luck tracking the stuff she fried. Like I said, I'll update again tomorrow.

Thanks again folks- I really would like to get this running again, my girl needs 4 doors for our daughter, and my Tacoma regular cab just doesn't seem safe for an 8 month old...
See ya'll tomorrow!

 

If you have a test light or multimeter disconnect the harness from the ignition coil and turn the ignition on and see if you are getting any power at the coil. If not it's probably a relay or fuse. If you are getting power the coil is bad. I only have the fuse diagrams from 99 1/2 to 05. I'd go to your local auto parts store and get a chitons manual for your car and they will be listed there.

 

exactly what racerx002 said. I know these cars are very funny when it comes to charging batteries and jump starting them. Was the battery still connected when charging? The system might have been surged if it was disconnected. This a 99% a relay/fuse problem, and if they are good its the coil.