97 jetta no start, any ideas, please help.

I have a 97 jetta 2.0L 4 cyl. It will not start, the problem started during a rainstorm out east, the car killed and would start 30 min later(3 months ago), now it won't start at all. i have checked the coil, fine, no arching. there is spark to the plugs(checked with timing light) the battery is fine at load, the airfilter is clean and dry. the fuel pump works, gas flows thought the line when cranking over. I had a hose crack from the brake booster to the intake manifold which i replaced yesterday (it started yesterday but would not stay running well, does not start today at all). battery is grounded. Today when turning over it would backfire internally from the intake manifold to the airfilter. Possible timing belt bad, or very lean mixture. ANYONE with ideas of things to check olease let me know, i've read the other 97 jetta issues but I can not come up with an answer from them. PLEASE HELP as i'm upposed to be driving to UTAH (2000 miles) in a week and need a reliable car. Thank you in advance.

try cleaning/ replacing your spark plugs

I just replaced the coil on my wife's 01 Beetle, had hairline cracks in two places and would misfire like crazy when in the rain or when I washed it. It eventually caused the cat converter to overheat. The recommendation to look came from my brother who had the same issues with his 97 Jetta. I would look at the coil, if it's cracked, replace it. The new ones have been modified, apparently this was a common occurence.

NO STATRT AGAIN!!Thanks for the replys. I took out the plugs, the were not fowled up much, i regapped them to .024 of an inch. it started and ran great FOR AWILE. Now its dead again. BOO. It started to studder, the check engine light came on, flashed (cataylatic converter?) and went solid. It still started fine after this, i had it scanned, 1. multiple misfire 2. cyclinder #2 misfire 3. cyclinder #3 misfire and 4. O2 sensor not registering. I started it today, it started good, could tell by reving it that it was not at %100 power. I turned it off and restarted it a few times with no problem, I poured some water over the coil, didn't see any sparks, it continued to run fine, poured the rest of the water over the engine and decided to take it for a spin, well it lost all power and then killed within 200 ft and now it will not restart again, I have waited about 30 min to restart still nothing. I'm going to replace the coil and see if that works. once again I appreciate the help and any advice is appreciated.