General Maintenance & Repairs - Won't Start, then started.

So I did some searching and I can't seem to find anything this morning, so if someone can help. Anyway, yesterday I gave my girl her yearly wash. She's not a DD. Just a hose and water, nothing in the engine bay etc. Started fine to move in and out of garage. Then later that night this girl I know wanted to go out for drinks and dinner, so I figured it's a nice night and took the SS. Started fine, drove to dinner, came out a few hours later, and it wouldn't start. All lights, radio, dings etc. worked just like normal. No click, or anything to be had in engine compartment. Almost like when you don't push down far enough on clutch. I popped hood, rustled a few wires etc. tried again and nothing. Turned off Radio, unplugged my ipod mod, turned off A/C and anything else I could turn off, and the girl with me says, yeah, like that's gonna help, maybe your girl just doesn't like me being in the car. Tried it one more time and she started right up just like normal! LOL. I'm not kidding. I told the girl with me that my car should be called Christine I guess. So we went to another place, and when I left the car started just fine. The girl was not in the car at that time. LOL. So does this sound like VATS, or something different? Or is my car truly possessed? Or is my car telling me not to let that girl in there again! Please help.

Pics of said girl?

How heavy was she?

LOL! Yeah, she's a bit on the heavy side!

maybe a dead spot in the starter?

possible water in CPU box???

Check your clutch switch for proper engagement on the pedal, and make sure the pins in the connector are in place. It is a white plastic switch at the top of your pedal. They can be adjusted quite easily.

OK,Thanks guys. I'll check them out.

possible water in CPU box???

More than likely not. I just gave it a wash, never washed engine bay that day. In fact, when I was done, I popped the hood, and dried off anything that was remotely damp. Even made sure to look over by CPU. SO I guess anything is possible. I'm leaning more towards this being the security system shut me down with that key. Or the hefty passenger. LOL

sounds like a starter issue

Two things that might very well be done soon. Wondering if a starter wire is too close to headers possibly. Thanks everyone.

Two things that might very well be done soon. Wondering if a starter wire is too close to headers possibly. Thanks everyone.

Bad, keep away wires from headers. suggest use shield blanket on wires/starter.

Bad, keep away wires from headers. suggest use shield blanket on wires/starter.

Yeah I know. thanks

So I checked clutch pedal by starting car with pedal not all the way to the floor. Sorry, lazy method, I have a fused neck and hate getting under the dash. Car starts fine even with clutch 1/2-1 inch off the floor probably. Jacked car up, and checked all wiring near the starter and headers. All looked just fine. So for the heck of it, I swapped the ignition key with my spare. For the next 4 times I drove the car there was no issue what so ever. Till yesterday. Drove the car an hour to parents house, it sat for 4 hours. Went to start and again, all lights etc. Just no start. Security light was lit, but not blinking. Pulled out key, and just wiped the key, put back in and car started just fine. I've tested this battery last year with a load tester and it was 100% fine. Still baffeled by this.
Car has 34K miles on it.

A buddy of mine had a very similar problem. If I remember right, I did some research on here for him and found people were having similar issues found it to be a bad starter relay. Thats what it was on his. I think he tested it by switching the relay with one of the fan relays for a week or so, and when he didn't have the starter problem bought a new relay and replaced the bad one.

hey i had a very similar problem........push the clutch all the way to the floor and nothing.......let it out...try again and nothing......next time it does that try this.......guaranteed it will work......

follow instructions if it doesnt start:

1-push clutch all the way to floor
2-turn key (if doesnt start, move to step three)
3)with the key turned, slowly let out the clutch, it will start once you get it 1/4-1 inch from the floor...

i had this issue for a little, now i know how to still start it when it doesnt want to

Have you checked the battery terminals to make sure they're clean and tight? Had a similar problem earlier this year with a Jeep, and it turned out to be a corroded negative terminal and a loose ground wire.

same thing Happent to me 2 day before my starter take a dumb at gas station :bang:.

Battery terminals are perfect. Clutch switch is fine. Will start on floor or off slightly. It's either the starter is going, which I doubt because of little miles and easy conditions. But I've had stranger things happen. Leaning toward this relay thing. I will look into that next.
Thanks. Those are under the hood on driver side under black cover correct?

That's correct. I've had this same problem and I ended up having a bad starter relay. Easy enough to check.

Sounds like most definitely the relay.

Swap out the Starter relay and AC relay.

It happened to me and left me stranded at 2 miles from home. I ended up walking home and walked to car next morning, it started right up.

Cool. Thanks guys. I'll give it a whirl and report back after a while. I don't drive it that much so it will take some time to tell if that's the culprit.

that is exactly the problem i am having...i replaced the starter today and it still does the same thing, so now i guess ill replace the relays and check the clutch pedal sensor

^^^ same problem Im having, just with an a4. I have already had a problem just like this when the VATS sys went bad. I did the resostor mod and fixed that part of it now its evil twin has arrived. I go to start the car and evrything lights up including the security light and no start. The security light will light up going down the road and maybe go out a few miles down the road or maybe not. I do know when the security light is lit when trying to start it wont turn over till light goes out. I had a bad batt connection on negative side earlier this year and fixed that, then VATS, now this. Damnit....

it sounds like the ignition switch on top of the steering column is bad

Update. So I swapped the starter relay with the fan relay like was mentioned to try. Thank You. I believe it has solved the problem. Driven it about 3 or 4 times now with plenty of restarts and it has not happened since the swap. Going to wait a bit more, then I guess replace that relay for the fan. It even seems to start totally different now. Much stronger start.