2000 Beetle 1.8T wont start hot

[AnthingMechanic]

I have the car referenced above. I rebuilt it after buying the car with a bad turbo which dumped all the oil and trashed the crankcase. It ran great for about a year, then started intermittently being difficult to start after it had run for a while. Drive it to the grocery store and you could not get back in and restart normally.

You can crank for what is abnormally long period of time (30 seconds... I know VERY bad on the starter) and then it will start hitting on one or two cylinders gaining momentum until it will run on its own. Oil light goes out after about 2-3 seconds of cranking, so I tend to not believe it is not waiting for the oil pressure to come up before turning on the fuel pump.

Sometimes after this start, it will immediately die when you put it in gear (automatic). The exhaust smells like an engine starving for fuel (gunpowder like smell).

It is throwing NO codes. Snap On diagnostic computer shows everything to be fine. No abnormal readings.

I'm thinking a fuel pump/delivery system problem, but can't figure how being up to operating temp would affect this. Any answers? I'm ready to dump the car as I have spent way too much money on it.

[bratt]

did you change the fuel filer? did you make sure the fuel injectors are clean? di you measure the fuel pressure with a pressure guage? did you make sure there is no vacuum leaks?