3 VWs and not ONE that runs... uh, help!

[sciroccodriver@yahoo.com (DAN)]

79 rocco - ummmm many problems
92 passat - trashed front end... want WHOLE parts car
87 16V.... the real problem behind this email...
Long...
OK, few weeks ago I told of my electrical gremlin
where a relay was clicking and the car wanted to
stall.  I found that it was the fuel pump relay
clicking and carried a spare until one day the car
wouldn't start at all.  Switcharoo and about 3 cranks
later the car started.  I thought that problem was
gone however I switched back the relay that night with
no problems and it has run for weeks...
Last night I started the car and it spit and sputtered
a LOT with lots of relay clicking.  I got to my
destination but barely got home. The car completely
died a couple times and didn't want to start up again.
 This morning I went out and switched ALL the relays
just for the hell of it to no avail.  The car would
not start at ALL with just little sputters.  At that
time I'm thinking spark, fuel, compression so I start
testing.  I find that there's good spark/coil and then
I tested everything the bentley says to on the 25pin
ECU connector. All things checked out fine with
respect to voltage and ohms. At this point I know its
an electrical problem but I don't think its ignition.
I got under the car and had the lovely wife turn the
keys on and off so I could make sure the fuel pumps
were both coming on and they were.  Then I replaced
the car's ECU just for the hell of it and that didn't
work either.  
Sooo, then I sat there and cranked the bitch(its her
name/always has been so don't get upset) for at least
10 minutes and finally got her to start. Spitttt
spuuutt sputtt spit sputtter with relay clicks and a
very bouncy(as in NOT right) tachometer BUT I brought
her up to about 4k rpm and she started runnin better. 
I heard a few sweet sounding backfires too.  Anyways,
so I got it running sorta but its still trying to
stall and such thus I've gotten nowhere.
I'm thinking that my 209k mile fuel pumps are shorting
somehow.  Can I check that with the connectors on the
pump?  Anybody got any ideas? I wish I had already
checked if anything was coming out of the fuel
injectors when it wasn't starting but I guess I'll do
that again if/when it doesn't start.   Thanks in
advance for any help and sorry for the long winded
letter.... I'm just screwed here with a crying hungry
baby,no friggn car, and a wife that really isn't
enjoying my VW addiction.  :-)
PLEASE CC ME DIRECT - I'm on digest...

=====
Dan May - Greensboro NC  
1992 16V Passat
1987 16V Scirocco
1979 Scirocco 
1972 Harley Davidson Rapido(Handlebars WANTED!) 
http://members.aol.com/scirocco87 
"I got soul and I'm super-bad."  -James Brown

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! - Official partner of 2002 FIFA World Cup
http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com