[mark de jonge]

Hello all, I own a 2000 golf that has an erratic immobilizer problem. After every 30 starts or so, the immobilizer symbol on the Dash flashes and the car stalls after I started it. Mostly I just take out the key, reinsert it and all works fine. But sometimes it takes over ten times for the immobilizer to accept the key and I have the feeling, that the problem worsens. I tried my spare key, but that doesn't make a difference. I changed the battery to make sure, the voltage is right, but this also didn't help. Reading out the error bank with VAG-COM yields no problems. So now I am thinking of changing out the coil as the next step. Anybody know how to do that or a better idea to tackle this problem. I wouldn't mind disabling the immo altogether, scince I don't think anyone wants to steal my old junker.

I live in the Netherlands in the vicinity of Uden

Thx for the help, Mark.

 

[Keithuk]

Welcome to the forum Mark. welcometomyturbodies

Immobilizers are a common problem search the forum for immobilizer or search FAQ they are a pain in the backside as you will read.

 

[chittychittybangbang]

Sure, but before you change the coil, I would see if you can monitor the coil status with the VCDS. There should be a measuring block where you can see this. See this FAQ for some more detail:
http://www.myturbodiesel.com/1000q/multi/ignition-switch-lock-cylinder-removal.htm

 

[mark de jonge]

Thx for the reply, I am in awe of the knowledge circling this forum. However, as I look around, I get the feeling this immobilizer thing immobilizes more car owners then it does car thieves. I'll check with VCDS what my immobilizer does, although I would expect a fault code if something in the immobilizer is faulty. I would find it quite usefull, if all intervented engine starts by the immobilizer would show up as faults. Now there is no way of tracking these types of failures.

I'll also check if I am lucky enough to have an immo2. In that case I have the luxury of the emergency immobilzer bypass that will guarentee me not getting stranded as result of a failing immobilizer. The only thing is that I will need to retreive my SKC as somewhere in the line of previous owners it got lost, but that can be arranged with the nifty trick I found somewhere else on this forum.

To change the various parts, that are a factor in the immobilizer looks like a real pain to me and ample opportunity to get stuck. If it's the coil, I'll have to replace the cylinder as well, as it is an integral part of the coil. This would mean, I'll need a different key for the ignition, or is the cylinder addabtable to my old key?

So if I am not lucky enough to have immo2 I'll start looking for some tuning shop that can disable the unit altogether.

I'll let you know how this progresses.

Greetz, Mark.

 

[Keithuk]

The only thing is that I will need to retreive my SKC as somewhere in the line of previous owners it got lost, but that can be arranged with the nifty trick I found somewhere else on this forum.

Where did you find that info on here Mark, can you post the thread?

Well the first thing you do with VCDS is an Autoscan to see if any other problems have developed.

 

[mark de jonge]

Hi Keith,

I found it on the spot below.

https://www.myturbodiesel.com/threads/immobilizer-troubleshooting-how-to-get-the-skc-or-how-to-disable-the-immo.2290/

 

[Shainz]

Hope the thread mentioned above has the answers to what I need.

 

[mark de jonge]

I was able get my hands on VAG Commander 1.4 and tried to retreive the SKC. Unfortunately the example given for SKC retrieval in this forum is for a CAN bus, where I have a K-line and for some reason that doesn't seem to go in the same way. Anyone have an idea how to retreive SKC over a K-line?

 

[chittychittybangbang]

You need vag tacho for that.

 

[mark de jonge]

ah crap, I bought the wrong tool. I'll see if I can get my hands on a VAG tacho...

 

[Keithuk]

There are cheap versions of VAG TACHO on eBay which don't always work. The believe the genuine VAG TACHO is expensive at around $800 or £800 I can't remember which it was but its expensive. There are different versions of VAG TACHO the 2.5 covers VAG the 3.01 covers GM.

 

[The Fezman]

i bought a chinese knock off and i was able to retrieve my ske# but it seems kind of worthless for anything else, it wont work to program my keys and if you dont pick the correct ECU it will do weird things to the dashboard, and the interface will not work with vcds light at least it was only 50$ also the cable was not "plug and play" it took forever for me to get it to work with windows vista, i had to manually install the cable into the usb port. but that being said, i was able to use it to get the ske