Fuel pump, relay, other? Crank, but no start. New Beetle owner

[kharville]

Hi all. I just acquired a 2002 Beetle with the 2.0L engine in it. I have been restoring the cosmetics of the car back to working condition and cranking the car regularly. However, since several weeks ago it has had strange fuel related cranking issues it seems. I have been listening for the fuel pump to prime when I turn on the key. If no noise, it does not crank. I'll open the door and switch the key on/off until I hear noise from the fuel pump, then it cranks fine. I decided since it had been sitting up that I should drain all the old fuel out and change the fuel filter. The car has 88,000 miles on it and I think hardly no maintenance was done. Upon removing the fuel pump I noticed the rubber ring around the fuel pump was gone. I replaced that since pieces of rubber were in the tank. So now the tank is clean, fuel filter has been replaced and once all was back together it will not crank. I replaced the relay just because that was an easy change. Still no noise from the fuel pump. I think it lost all pressure when the fuel filter was replaced. I would expect the pump to prime the lines but nothing now. Is there a fuel pump test? Any suggestions would be appreciated. I've read many posts on this type issue but this seems a little different to me since the fuel pump was working a few days ago. Do they gradually go out? Thanks, Ken