immobilize immobilizer? (Car won't start... blinking icon)

dbeeby

Active member
Joined
Jun 14, 2006
Hello! My car was running fine last night and this morning. Later in the morning, when I tried to start it, the car would turn over and catch, but then die. The little "car and key" icon continues to flash on the dashboard, which means that the anti-theft device (immobilizer) is active.

I've tried the following:
- disconnect the battery and touch the leads together for 20 seconds
- open all doors (hood and trunk), close them all, reactivate the alarm
- try several keys (I have three keys that have been "paired" to this car)
- insert key in door lock, turn to left and hold, turn to right and hold, unlock.

Nothing is working and I can find no information on the Internets about how to disable the immobilizer. It's now at a service station in Brooklyn and will be looked at on Monday, but I fear that they're not going to do anything and I'll have to have it towed again to the dealer. Advice?

I posted a similar problem here, but didn't notice then if the immoblizer light was on or not. http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=151263
 

wrenchman30

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 1, 2007
Location
arkansas
TDI
2005.5 gray 2006 dark blue
take it to the dealer. the immoblizer stuff is very expensive and not a common repair place is going to pony up the dough for the key machines and software. to wire around it you will need a very good eletrical diagram and a electronics person.
 

SilverGhost

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2005
Location
Back in So Flo - St Lucie
TDI
'05 Golf - totaled :(, wife's '13 Beetle - buy back, TDIless
Sounds like a key going to crap. And after you tried several tricks to get it started the Immobilizer locks down for a while.

When get cars in the shop with your symptoms most often we can get the key to work again, BUT it usually comes back for the same problem. How soon it quits again varies.

And of course every car acts a little different. One car will start the next morning. Another will start with a different key after a while. And then other cars won't start at all until the keys are reprogrammed.

Good luck!

Jason
 

weedeater

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 17, 2001
Location
Reston, VA
TDI
Jetta, 2001, Baltic Green
If all the keys failed, then I would guess that the 'senso-ring' around the ignition switch went bad.
 

jasonTDI

TDI GURU Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
Apr 26, 2001
Location
Oregon, WI
TDI
20' RAM 3500 CCLB dually HO/Aisan. 2019 Cherokee 2.0T
I have found one trick that has got me into stuck cars (parking ramps) 4 times now.

Run the full scan on the car and when it's done hit the clear all codes button and start the car at the same time. I think, could be dangerous, since the imobilizer is "busy" it ignores the start and the car runs. I then suggest the other fixes.
 

tommys69

Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2007
Location
hickory,nc
TDI
2002 beetle
Keys Won't Work

Went to crank my 02 beetle and the immobilizer won't let it crank. Tried all 3 keys it came with and same thing. Used the suggestion of unhooking and touching 2 battery cables together and this fixed my problem. Car cranks fine and has for 2 days now. This is a very easy fix that the dealership would probably charge you several hundred dollars to preform not counting tow charge. Thank ya'll very much for all the inciteful diagnostics in this forum. Volkswagen should put stuff like this and the anti-shudder valve issue in owner's manual.
 

jimbote

Certified Volkswagen Nut
Joined
Jul 10, 2006
Location
spiral arm, milky way (aka central NC)
TDI
Tacoma 4x4 converted to TDI
I have found one trick that has got me into stuck cars (parking ramps) 4 times now.

Run the full scan on the car and when it's done hit the clear all codes button and start the car at the same time. I think, could be dangerous, since the imobilizer is "busy" it ignores the start and the car runs. I then suggest the other fixes.
I did this but quite by accident and it worked....just on a whim I auto scanned and cleared and then car ran...but I still sent the ecm to Jeff to have the immob deleted
 

TDIHolic

Member
Joined
Nov 15, 2010
Location
San Jose, California
TDI
Jetta o3 / 270K, Wagon 05 / 190K
I just had the same problem activating the immobilizer using the wrong key on my 02 Jetta. The 15 minutes wait worked fine, but only after I kept the key on the ignition all the time until the immobilizer light stopped blinking and went off completely. Also, I had to have a battery charger connected to supply the needed voltage to keep the system on during the process because my battery was too weak. If you don’t have an alternative power supply, try removing the headlight fuses to reduce the battery draining.
 

Ruffrida

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 12, 2012
Location
The true England !!
TDI
2000 A3 Sport - AHF 140bhp-ish
Hello! My car was running fine last night and this morning. Later in the morning, when I tried to start it, the car would turn over and catch, but then die. The little "car and key" icon continues to flash on the dashboard, which means that the anti-theft device (immobilizer) is active.
I've tried the following:
- disconnect the battery and touch the leads together for 20 seconds
- open all doors (hood and trunk), close them all, reactivate the alarm
- try several keys (I have three keys that have been "paired" to this car)
- insert key in door lock, turn to left and hold, turn to right and hold, unlock.
Nothing is working and I can find no information on the Internets about how to disable the immobilizer. It's now at a service station in Brooklyn and will be looked at on Monday, but I fear that they're not going to do anything and I'll have to have it towed again to the dealer. Advice?
I posted a similar problem here, but didn't notice then if the immoblizer light was on or not. http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=151263
Not sure it is the same as the 8L A3 but i had this and it turned out to be broken clocks / instrument cluster, you can turn the immo off with vag-com but not idle as it will start with ANY key
 

pontala1@gmail.com

Active member
Joined
Jul 31, 2016
Location
Roanoke
TDI
03 jetta
Hi I replace my heater core and seams that the key blinking on the dash. I did removed the steering wheel and controls also one 25 fuse fail in the floor and I could not find a fuse chart with respective values. Is a way to know for sure what is the problem?
 

STDOUBT

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 30, 2007
Location
Portland, effing Oregon
TDI
dos jettas
Starting a new thread for the same issue is a bad idea.


AFAICT, p0600 is not a vcds code. What did you use to scan?

Do you have vcds or can find someone with it?
Did you try any of the above suggestions yet?
EDIT: apologies, for some reason I thought at first you started this thread.
 
Last edited:

pontala1@gmail.com

Active member
Joined
Jul 31, 2016
Location
Roanoke
TDI
03 jetta
Thank for the information. I used a regular car scanner. It turnouts to be s bad connection on the speedometer cluster but when I removed the steering will I pull the the ribbon cable from the clock spring now my steering is not working. Can I fix it?
 
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