Won't start!

If anyone could shed some light on this situation I would be very grateful.

I have a 1800 8V GTI sportline. It has been stood over the last 6months but fired up once in a while, with the battery also kept on a trickle charge when not in use.

Yesterday, I took it for an MOT. It fired up first time and I drove to the testing station, only to be told the Machine was 'down'. I told them i'd be back this morning and that's where things went wrong. With a bit of time on my hands yesterday afternoon I decided to give the car a little service. I put 4 new spark plugs in, changed the air filter and the fuel filter. Went to start it and it coughed a little, after a few attempts it started and i thought it had struggled because the filter would need to fill with fuel! Oh no! It had other ideas… It stalled and then struggled to start at all. Since then, it hasn't started without a big spray of 'easy start' although that only helped for a bit. Now it dies straight away.

Question: Is it the fuel pump? And would a fuel pump work intermittently before totally dying? Or is there anyway, I could have upset something when I did my little service. I've even tried putting the old filter back in! Putting the old plugs back in! Even though I did them one by one, I've double checked a injection wiring diagram…

It's now at a garage but I think i may do the work myself. Is there anything I should check for to determine if it's the fuel pump - there's a lot of pressure in the fuel filter!! If the pump was dead, would there be much pressure there?

I'm stumped!

Any pointers would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks.

i am no mechanic by any means.

It could be coincidence but if it drove perfect there and back before you did service then perhaps it is something to go with that.

I would make sure all your HT leads are round the right way, that the rotor cap is on tight and arm, that all visable wires attached and nothing has been knocked off , make sure fuel filter is tight etc

trial and error a bit i suppose

Best of luck with finding the problem mate

someone with more knowleged will be along with a technical answer soon i hope :-)

Thanks for the speedy repsonse. I forgot to mention the AA came out and tried to get it going before it was towed to a local garage!! I told the AA man about the service I'd done and he seemed to check over anything obvious that I may have disrupted.. I'm since wondering if it could be a fuse or a relay somewhere as he didn't check these.. It definitely does seem like a major coincidence it happened straight after I did the work to it.

I've just read your post for the first time and thought I'd ask how you got on with your sportline.

Have you got it started yet?! What was the problem?

The garage I took it to just cleaned the ignition coil and it's been fine ever since!

Them coils can be a pain mine miss fires now and then when I try and floor it id just change it any ways even thou it's fixed now a very late reply lol