polo 1997 starting problems

[amorgan]

Morning,
I am hoping one of you vw bods can be of assistance. I am having a problem with my wife's polo and so far a specialist has been no hope whatsoever. The car is a 1.4 and when a start the car it fires up then dires staight away. turn it over again, fires then dies. six or seven times then will stay on. There is no pattern with this from cold or hot starts and have plugged diagnostic machine in and read out is saying ecu locked. I am thinking perhaps a sensor of some sort. Any assistance would be hugely appreciated
Adrian

[Mr V]

Usually if the ECU is blocked, it tends to be an immobilizer problem. But without more info i'd only be guessing.

[amorgan]

Would it be the immobiliser even though it does actually start, then dies straight away. the problem is it is so inconsistant we cant get a regular pattern for when it happens

[Mr V]

That's exactly what happens when it's an immobiliser problem. Try using your spare key for a while and see if that cures it.

Edited by Mr V on Monday 16th July 19:11