93 Jetta Not Starting, Sounds Different

Hi,

I'm driving a 1993 Jetta. I've only owned it for about a month now, picked it up spur of the moment as I was in great need of a new vehicle and it was the first Mk3 Jetta I could get my hands on in running condition. I'm not very knowledgeable about vehicles in general, but I have owned a 87 Jetta which I did a lot of maintenance and some engine work on.

It has taken a few tries to start it on most occassions, and it seems to be a lot worse in humid/rainy weather. I've read a bunch of threads and info on this now, and the dampness issue seems to point at ignition coil, distributor cap, and/or wires.

The car had a few known problems before.

If I filled the tank all the way, it would run for about 100 yards then stall out. This happened to me once and it would start, idle hard, then stall. If I kept the RPM's high it would run, and after burning off fuel for about an hour it finally stayed lit and haven't had the problem since.

The gas gauge is completely off now. I ran out of gas (at least I think that's what happened) twice this week, and the gas gauge only moves very marginally when adding fuel. Last time it stalled out it was really damp out, we added gas, and it took about 20 tries to get it started. Ran fine for a few days now.

I tried to start it up this morning and it just isn't turning over. It's really damp out today too.

I'm a little more concerned because it sounds different now when I'm trying to start. At first it just wasn't starting and the engine would just keep turning while I tried to start. Now I get a sort of grinding noise every few turns but it doesn't fire. Like it's about to fire, but nothing happens. Did I screw something up trying to start it over and over?

Before when I tried to start it would just go...

tu tu tu tu tu tu tu tu (engine turning, not starting)

Now it's going...

tu tu tu tu grrr tu tu tu tu tu grrr tu tu tu tu ....

Heh... okay that probably doesn't help. :D

I'm financially strapped for a few weeks, this summer has bled me dry for a number of reasons. I'd like to try and figure out as much as possible on my own. I have a Haynes guide but it only gets so detailed.

I know this is probably a vague description but any advice would be helpful. Thanks so much.

I should also mention that the engine light has been on since day one, and never turns off. According to the seller the garage that serviced this vehicle for a long time gave an inspection with the light on, since they couldn't figure out why it was on and everything else passed. Go figure.

Could that sound be a dying battery caused by too much cranking? Perhaps. If someone hooks up to your battery or you throw a jump pack on it then try to start it, see if it goes away. Then you're back to WHY ISN'T MY CAR STARTING! I'm still stuck there.