Hi there..

1998 Oktavia 1.9tdi GLX.... 140k on it...

I love it, and it's really solid mechanically, but it has a few electrical things which are more than a little annoying and seem to be getting worse.

1) Sometimes the immobiliser cuts the car out when attempting to start. The light flashes on the dash, and I have to take the key out, sometimes a few times, before eventually the car starts. At the moment this happens 1 out of 4/5 times starting the car, but I'm worried it will get worse.

2) The rear windows have sudenly stopped working. When you push the switch you can hear a whirring, so something is making contact, but the windows don't move. Same deal from front drivers console, and rear switches themselves.

3) Central locking is continuously problematic - very selective about how many doors it locks, and from where. It never engages the passenger door lock, which must be done manually, and never the boot, though it is possible to lock all doors from the boot..

Any ideas? Could these issues be linked?

Just want to have some idea before I take it anywhere....

Cheers

Dave

Number 1 is probably a dodgy pickup coil around the ignition switch. Number 2, I'd start by looking inside the doors to see what is happening, as you can hear something work. For number 3, have you had any water leaks?

(1) As cjb says, or else a dodgy contact or flat battery in the key(s).

(2) Most likely the regulators have both failed where they attach to the glass. You'll need to have the door cards off to check this.

(3) Water ingress, most likely in the driver's door. You'll need to have the door card off for this too.

1 is likely to be the read coil to dash panel loom, cost about £7 and a leisurley hour to fit. The batteries in the key have absolutely nothing to with the immobiliser.

2 and 3 as per post #3 above.

I had problem 1 with mine recently and did a cold reboot and this seems to have sorted it, it certainly has started OK everytime since I did this about a month ago. A cold reboot is simply taking both battery terminals off and touching them together for 15 seconds or more then reconnecting them to the battery. This procedure discharges all the static electricity in the entire electrical system.

For a couple of minutes to complete and being free it's worth a try.