Immobilizer/ECU problems...Car disabled...help!

[drkstrA4]

Well I came out from work on Friday, turned the key in the ignition, the engined fired up as usual, and 2 seconds later died. I concluded that there was an issue with the immobilizer or reader coil after reading several articles, not to mention the odometer was reading SAFE. With no choice, I had to have the car towed to Commonwealth Audi in Santa Ana, CA only to find out that this is one of the shittier dealerships.

After having my car all day, Rich finally called me back and said we have been trying to figure out what is wrong, but nothing is communicating anything else (whatever that means). I assume he means no codes were being thrown, and therefore they were actually going to have to work to figure out what the problem was.

Service associate claims ECU might be dead, or all components of ECU are dead. Anyone have any experience or ideas? Is ECU covered under warranty? This is obviously the case of a faulty vehicle.

Any advice or input is greatly appreciated.

TIA

Andrew

[Pete4 1.8t]

That doesn't sound good. I had a problem with my immobilizer that strangely disappeared. Have you tried another key? It's hard to say since they are claiming that the car won't do anything.

[drkstrA4]

I tried all my keys. I feel like this is going to be a big freakin ordeal with the dealership.

[A4TL]

what about immobilizer delete option for chip?

[NoShowNoGo]

Search through my posts - I went through this issue for over 10 months before it got fixed - not to mention an ECU, 3 clusters and over 12 different service appointments. I had the same exact symptoms as you, where the car would start and die, and the odo would change to SAFE. The guys at my dealership at first thought I was full of it until it started doing it to them. Finally they called AoA for advice and they had them replace just a couple tiny connectors on the harness and that turned out to be the problem. They told me AoA says its pretty common, actually. It used to happen every other or ever 3rd start, and since they replaced it in Jan. of this year I have been symptom free. Good luck, it sucks getting it taken care of.

[initiala4]

If ECU is dead the car wouldnt even crank. The first thing you will notice is the radiator fan spinning like there is no tmr!

[brewmastr]

if the ecu is dead yes the car would crank put probably would not even start for 2 seconds, definite immobilizer issue, if it is something with the ecu it should be under same emissions warranty cat falls under which is 8 years/80k. by the way i see you own a c230 kompressor, i am a MB tech, if you havnt yet get the vent hose campaign done to your car, when that vent hose from the check valve opens up it goes extremely lean and will misfire like a sonuvabitch.

[diagnosticator]

Quote: "Finally they called AoA for advice..."

I recommend you direct the dealership to do this immediately, instead of letting them "chase their own tails" on this problem.