450k miles new to me

hello let the flaming begin, but i was given a 2001 one owner beetle with over 450000 miles. the po only let one dealer work on the car and took good care until the last problem alternator drained the battery. the sunroof has been leaking for some time and i believe it is my main problem causing mutable electrical problems. currently it doesn’t start and i have no glow plug or check engine lights but have a flashing trunk light. what can i do to get it running.
thanks

First thing I would do is clean all grounds under the battery tray. Then put a known good fully charged battery in and see if it will crank. Next, have someone crack injectors while cranking until fuel squirts out. Then, clear all codes and see what comes back.

If the battery is that dead no lights will light.
Does the dome lite come on?
Parking lights?
Mileage indicator on the dash?

JDSwan87 said:

First thing I would do is clean all grounds under the battery tray. Then put a known good fully charged battery in and see if it will crank. Next, have someone crack injectors while cranking until fuel squirts out. Then, clear all codes and see what comes back.

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it cranks never thought about grounds was going to move the battery to the trunk. have not messed with injectors yet was thinking about adding electric fuel pump between filter and tank

wonneber said:

If the battery is that dead no lights will light.
Does the dome lite come on?
Parking lights?
Mileage indicator on the dash?

Click to expand...

new battery nothing on dash but a couple of warning lights i’ll try to get a picture

h2odrx said:

it cranks never thought about grounds was going to move the battery to the trunk. have not messed with injectors yet was thinking about adding electric fuel pump between filter and tank

Click to expand...

Dont bother moving the battery to the trunk, you need to get it running before toying with it.
Don't bother with electric pump, your IP should be able to pull fuel from the tank as designed. While someone is cranking the car, crack the "tall" (3rd) injector until fuel squirts out. Repeat on all injectors.

P.S. no flaming here, we all come here to help and be helped.

thanks i’ll try that

Before you go starting the thing. How long ago in time and milage was the timing belt done? Service is 80k or 5 years max. If it's only been a year but 100k on it or if it was done 5 years ago and only 10k on the service, you need to replace it before you crank her back to life.
Do not neglect this.

Scanning for codes (already mentioned) might be helpful.