Audi A4 2.6 V6 Avant............ again..........
Discussion
Mods - I have posted this in Audi, VW etc as well but there may be people here in GG who can help that dont browse that forum -
Evening all,
We have a 1997 Audi A4 2.6 V6 Avant which has been plagued with an imobiliser problem. I believe that since we have had the car ~7 years, it has played up a lot and Audi have 'fixed' it 5 times.
Its happened again tonight leaving me spending my evening in an esso garage. Sometimes using the other key gets it going, other times (like tonight) it simply wont start. It will fire idle for ~0.5 seconds then die.
Does anyone know if this is a common problem in this age and model of Audi? Are there any Audi specialists on here who know a long term fix? Is there any way to disable the imobiliser altogether?
Thanks for any help you can offer!
Evening all,
We have a 1997 Audi A4 2.6 V6 Avant which has been plagued with an imobiliser problem. I believe that since we have had the car ~7 years, it has played up a lot and Audi have 'fixed' it 5 times.
Its happened again tonight leaving me spending my evening in an esso garage. Sometimes using the other key gets it going, other times (like tonight) it simply wont start. It will fire idle for ~0.5 seconds then die.
Does anyone know if this is a common problem in this age and model of Audi? Are there any Audi specialists on here who know a long term fix? Is there any way to disable the imobiliser altogether?
Thanks for any help you can offer!
Thanks.
Been doing some research. Looks like it will be the reader coil or the coil connections. Apparently its a design fault where the connections were not given enough slack from factory and over time as the steering column gets adjusted up / down there is too much strain on the wires - causing a bad connection.
There was one answer i found which suggested unplugging reader coil wires then plug them back in - they aren't a soldered connection but a push connection - apparently easily accessable so i going to give it a try this weekend and see what happens...
Should the above fail, We will have to decide. Do we get Audi to 'fix' it for a 6th time or do we move on! I suppose it will depend on price but I would be inclined to move on as it is obviously a reoccuring problem.
Been doing some research. Looks like it will be the reader coil or the coil connections. Apparently its a design fault where the connections were not given enough slack from factory and over time as the steering column gets adjusted up / down there is too much strain on the wires - causing a bad connection.
There was one answer i found which suggested unplugging reader coil wires then plug them back in - they aren't a soldered connection but a push connection - apparently easily accessable so i going to give it a try this weekend and see what happens...
Should the above fail, We will have to decide. Do we get Audi to 'fix' it for a 6th time or do we move on! I suppose it will depend on price but I would be inclined to move on as it is obviously a reoccuring problem.
Yes, it's a common problem - we had this with our A4 too.
You can turn the key to the last point in the barrel & wait for the immobiliser light to go out on the dash. If it stays flashing the car will just cut out after starting. Take the key out and try again.
If it repeatedly happens, trying wiggling the key in the barrel - that worked with ours. I never bothered to get it fixed, as it was intermittent & it was our bangernomics car & Audi wanted silly money to recode the keys after.
It is possible if the car is of a certain age, to bypass the immobiliser, which a decent VAG indy would be able to confirm/do if applicable.
You can turn the key to the last point in the barrel & wait for the immobiliser light to go out on the dash. If it stays flashing the car will just cut out after starting. Take the key out and try again.
If it repeatedly happens, trying wiggling the key in the barrel - that worked with ours. I never bothered to get it fixed, as it was intermittent & it was our bangernomics car & Audi wanted silly money to recode the keys after.
It is possible if the car is of a certain age, to bypass the immobiliser, which a decent VAG indy would be able to confirm/do if applicable.
-c- thanks for the info.
I must admit i have never seen an imobiliser light... I didnt even look for one! I'll give that a go also.
I would prefer to just disable the imobiliser and render it useless as a 'fix' rather than get Audi to replace the reader coil only to be left with the problem thats going to return.
If it was a newer car i would try an aftermarket imobiliser etc but as its a 13 year old car worth approx £1500 max its just not worth it.
I must admit i have never seen an imobiliser light... I didnt even look for one! I'll give that a go also.
I would prefer to just disable the imobiliser and render it useless as a 'fix' rather than get Audi to replace the reader coil only to be left with the problem thats going to return.
If it was a newer car i would try an aftermarket imobiliser etc but as its a 13 year old car worth approx £1500 max its just not worth it.
Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff