Help - Immobilizer light still flashing

[harps21k]

Hi Guys,

I am on the verge off shooting myself, as my car is just pi**ing me off.

A month ago my Immobilizer light started flashing and the car would start and cut out straight away. Tried 2s ets of keys and the same problem. Both key just cant stop working at the same time so I called the AA and the guy spent at least 1 hour trying to find out what was causing the issue. He ran a signal test on his laptop with the key in the ignition and it was not reporting any signal being read on the key. He said that the common fault on A3's is the reader coil on the ignition.

So I went along to Audi and got a new ignition barrel made from my existing keys, so I would not have to reprogramme them.

Today I fitted the new barrel and recharged the battery as it went flat and guess what it still flashing.

I freeze my nuts off on the bus to get to work and need my A3 back up and running. Can anyone help?

 

[sportquattro]

Take it to Audi (or a good VAG specialist), get them to sort it - the danger is you'll end up changing umpteen things that don't work and this time of year is too cold to be messing around with a dead car in the driveway freezing ones nuts off.

 

[AndyMac]

Yeah Audi will kindly change everything for you and charge you £100/hour for the privilege and still won't guarantee a solution as they are dire at fault finding, especially older cars. It was probably them that told you you needed a new reader coil, when it's almost never the reader coil. they're very good at replacing parts, terrible at problem solving.
Chances are it's the wiring. Seem to remember the wiring connections for the reader coil can either get coroded making a bad connection or also just picks up interference from the other wires in the loom, especially on older models. Firstly try moving the steering column up and down and see if it starts. If it does then you need to pull apart the wires in the loom running from the keyswitch, so they're not all bunched together. If you still get the problem then wiggle the wires around to see if it's a bad connection. Has to be one of the two.

 

[shark_90]

It's probably the wiring between the reader coil and the cluster, or could even be the cluster causing the problem (rare, but have seen it).

 

[Nilz]

Where are you based mate, could recommend a few places if that helps.

 

[vince, A3 turbo]

harps.mine does the same thing..its a pain in the ***,,mine does it because i dont have the original key i think,,,but if u keep turning the ignition on and off the light wil turn of so u can still drive,,some times it will be fine but some times it takes 4 or 5 attempts,,better then getting on the bus lol

 

[woody.dub]

I can sort this for you mate, where abouts are you

 

[vince, A3 turbo]

how haha i would love to no lol,

 

[s3wil]

I can sort this for you, pm me

 

[leshkin]

harps.mine does the same thing..its a pain in the ***,,mine does it because i dont have the original key i think,,,but if u keep turning the ignition on and off the light wil turn of so u can still drive,,some times it will be fine but some times it takes 4 or 5 attempts,,better then getting on the bus lol

The reader coil is the thing that generally dies and is an extremely common fault. Scanning the car with VCDS should help you to identify if the engine is not starting as a result of an immobilizer or something else.

The error yo uare looking for is '01176' or '17978'

Good troubleshooting guide for this issue - VW immobilizer information and troubleshooting

How-to replace the part - audipages Immobilizer Wiring Replacement

 

[MRGOOSE]

Hi there i am having the same problem just yesterday i drove down and up from wales with no problem and today when i try start it it starts up for a second and dies out the key light keeps flashing. Can anyone help please?????

 

[desertstorm]

The information to help you is linked above. As stated the coil that reads the keys is a known issue. Have you tried a different key, the actual sender part in the key is made of glass and can be damaged if the keys are dropped a good distance.

 

[Scott Stevens]

Anyone help me??? My ****** imboliser is flashing! I have tryed turning the key load off times and no luck! Car is stuck on pals drive It's a 1.8 R reg!! It happened before but I turned the key load time and it worked! Been sound

 

[Scott Stevens]

harps.mine does the same thing..its a pain in the ***,,mine does it because i dont have the original key i think,,,but if u keep turning the ignition on and off the light wil turn of so u can still drive,,some times it will be fine but some times it takes 4 or 5 attempts,,better then getting on the bus lol

Mine won't do that now it has before but refusing now ...

 

[Ruhel]

Do you know anyone local that can scan the car with VCDS. Should throw up an error code so you know where to start problem solving.

 

[Erikn89nl]

Check the electrical connection to the reader coil on the ignition barrel