85 cis timing and starting issues

I have a 85 cabriolet with cis. a few weeks ago it died. Thought it
was the hall sender since it had acted flakey previously. so i got a
rebuilt one. marked were the old one was and replaced. Still no start.
After much aggrevation realized the main pump had died. replaced it
and still no start. Kept checking timing marks but nothing, cheked
again and thought since i had replaced the pump maybe there was air in
the line. so i manually pushed down on the fuel pump relay for a while
then tried starting it. lo and behold it started. abit roughly but
started.. turned the dist. to get the idle in range and let it run for
a few minutes. Go out a day later and try to start it, nothing. push
fuel pump relay and it gets started. This car use to start like a
champ.
I'm probably going to get it to a good vw specialist and have them
completely redo the timg but my questions are
1. did the fuel pump relay go bad when the pump died? or is the timing
really out of whack and not telling the pump to keep giving gas?

suggestions thoughts

Those fuel pump relays really do go bad!
Just change it and your car should start.

"vwtopdown" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>I have a 85 cabriolet with cis. a few weeks ago it died. Thought it
> was the hall sender since it had acted flakey previously. so i got a
> rebuilt one. marked were the old one was and replaced. Still no start.
> After much aggrevation realized the main pump had died. replaced it
> and still no start. Kept checking timing marks but nothing, cheked
> again and thought since i had replaced the pump maybe there was air in
> the line. so i manually pushed down on the fuel pump relay for a while
> then tried starting it. lo and behold it started. abit roughly but
> started.. turned the dist. to get the idle in range and let it run for
> a few minutes. Go out a day later and try to start it, nothing. push
> fuel pump relay and it gets started. This car use to start like a
> champ.
> I'm probably going to get it to a good vw specialist and have them
> completely redo the timg but my questions are
> 1. did the fuel pump relay go bad when the pump died? or is the timing
> really out of whack and not telling the pump to keep giving gas?
>
> suggestions thoughts
>