I really need help with a 4G63 no spark!!

I am lost with this problem, so please give me any help you can. Here's the scoop:

I was driving my 91 Tsi Talon at normal rpm's, at normal operating temperature, but was low on gas. All of the sudden the car completely shuts down, so I pull over assuming that I ran out of gas (even though I had gotten that low before and had never run out). Adding fuel did nothing, as the engine didn't even appear to be fireing by the sound of it. This is what I have tried since then:

I first assumed it was the fuel pump, so I checked for a humming sound when turning the key to ON as the manual suggests, but I heard nothing. I pulled the fuel pump and powered it directly and it ran fine, although very quiet, so maybe thats why I didn't hear it. After replacing the pump I loosened the banjo fitting on the fuel filter to check for pressure and fuel came shooting out, suggesting the pump is fine. I then checked all my plugs for spark by pulling and grounding them individually, and none of them were sparking. At this point I don't think its the fuel system, but it also seems unlikely that the coil or ignition power transistor went bad considering they control 2 cylinders at a time, but I checked them anyway. My coil checks fine according to the manual, but the power transistor failed part of the test. My roomate happens to have a 91 Tsi Talon as well (in good working order) and he is nice enough to let me "borrow" parts to check them in my car. I replaced it with my friends power transistor, which did nothing. I also tried his coil, as well as both of them together and still no spark at all.

I then thought it may be the ECM, which gave no error code but more importantly gave no dead signal. So just because it was easy, I swapped the ECM with my friends car and still no spark. Where do I go from here!!! If I could get any advice on this problem, I would really appreciate it!

Nate

My TSI that i bought had the same problem, no spark.. sold it to a kid that fixed it and said it was the ground to the ECU... so u might wanna check that... and also you dont get a fuel pump with key on, it only comes on when it has a cranking signal

mine did the same thing. bummed me out for days. but it was a simple problem. check all your connections with sensors and all. one of my sensors wasn't connected which caused that problem. i'm not sayin your problem is as simple as mine, but it's possible

I had a problem like that a while back....It was a belt that was right next to the timing belt died and it killed the crankshaft sensor....if that is an incorrect name sorry...I am having a hard time remembering what it was called and I tried to look it up but couldnt find it...

Check the CAS (Cam Angle Sensor).

im havin the same problem right now, no spark, i just replaced my head, put everything back together, everything would be perfect if my plugs would spark, i checked the cam posistioning censor, is there a plug at the end of it that goes into another plug that runs into the distributer, because from the cam sensor, it is just a red and a black wire, it looks like there should be a plug on at the end of those wires,but, no plug on the end, n there is a plug that has nothing to plug into, also, does it mader were you ground the ground wire to? ive seen it in a couple different places on different motors, i dont know what to do to get spark, am stuck:disappoin . its hurtin.

I actually forgot to include on my huge list that I also swapped the CAS with my buddy's car and still nothing. I suspected it could be the ground to the ECM like somebody else mentioned, but all of them checked out okay and I saw no broken, loose, or brittle wires. I also checked some of the ECM ports for correct voltage (from the battery, to the ignition power transistor, etc.) and all of them checked okay as well. I was also getting voltage to the coil, so now I am really lost. I am about to give up, so if anybody has any other suggestions, please let me know before I kill this POS for good!!! Thanks for the help everybody.

Nate

heres, something i might look at, your cam positioning censor, the clip to mine was ripped of the wires so i just ordered a new one 5 minuits ago, the cam positioning censor is underneath the cam gear, attached to the head itsself, if that is broken or anything your plugs wont spark.

I got totally fed up and decided to have it towed to a repair shop (due to lack of time). This is what they found:

I have oil leaking into the timing belt area. This oil weakened the timing belt and stripped the belt teeth in about a three inch section. So my crank is still turning but the pulley is slipping on the belt, so the cams are not turning, hence why the cam angle sensor is not picking anything up which is why I have no spark. So the head should now be completely messed up due to interference between the valves and pistons. But I am lucky (kind of):

About six months ago my balancing shaft belt broke and got in between my crank shaft pulley and the timing belt. This caused it to skip and I had massive interference. I had to replace the belts and the head (big job) but I decided to not replace the pistons. Even though they had dents where the valves hit, I didn't want to rebuild the whole thing when the car is only worth about a grand. So those dents actually prevented my valves from interfering this time. Essentially by me being lazy about replacing the pistons the first time, I saved myself a shit load of work and money this time!!

So theres the answer to my problem. I hope none of you have the same because it can be an expensive job if you need a new head. If it does happen, be sure to check for oil leaks in that area because it can save you a massive headache later. Live and learn I guess. Thanks everybody for your help and good luck with your problems.

Nate

so the cams are not turning, hence why the cam angle sensor is not picking anything up which is why I have no spark.

if the cam angle sensor goes bad or the cams dont send any signal to the cas, that means there wont be any spark? I never knew that i was just asking. learn something new everyday :-D

check the fuse for your motor, that worked for me, infact, check all your fuses, sometimes you cant tell if they are burnt out or not.