Car died on the highway

Greetings,
A good friend of mine just had his passat 3bg 1.9 tdi (AVF engine code) die on him while cruising on the highway out of nowhere. The car still cranks but does not start.
A few hours earlier a wire for an old amp cable came loose and hit some metal in the trunk, the cable welded it self to the metal, when this happen the car just died, and all electronics in the car seemed dead. when the short was cleared the car sprung back to life and all seemed good. happy days we though, no warning light. all good so far.
Fast forwards 4-5 hours of driving the battery light came on and the engine instantly died. it still cranks but does not start.
When he turn on the ignition everything seems normal, the glowlight comes on and the engine cranks but does not start or even cough.
At the moment he is not able to get hold of a proper diagnostics tool or a multimeter....
I dont really have time to do a 9 hour roadtrip into a different country today, so if anyone have some brilliant ideas they would be much appreciated.
Also, aren't there supposed to be more fuses in that fuse panel? looks to me like some ECM fuses are missing...


UPDATE: I did the roadtrip and the issue is now resolved and a lesson learned. Not related to electronics att all, timing belt had startet to come apart. it had jumped 2 teeths. Slapped a new belt on, and now she runs good.

the amp wire that came loose and shorted to the chassis most likely went to the battery. I would check the fuse to the ECM, I bet its blown.

Checking all the fuses is definitely on the to do list.
However the fusebox in this car kinda confuses me, all the documentation i can find states that fuse 32, 34 and 43 is the ECM fuses. but on the picture the car is apparently missing those fuses.

And ofc i have the exact same car, and it is stuck at the garage until tomorrow awaiting a wheel alignment so i cant check if they are supposed to be there or not

QuickTD said:

Glow plug light comes on, so the ECU has power. I would check the fuse for the fuel pump, or listen while someone cycles the key.

Click to expand...

The AVF cars have a mechanical tandem pump so the in-tank pump should only be for startup?
My passat, with the same engine have bad in-tank pump but still runs fine, just cant let it sit for more than a few days... so cant really see how that should make it quit while cruising on the highway.