2003 TDI (90) Ambiente Estate

Last winter we had a couple of occasions where turning the key didn't elicit an immediate turning of the starter - there was a short delay (up to a couple of seconds on the worst days) then Action - and normal service resumed. Nothing all spring, summer and autumn last year.

This winter - this has now started to be a bit more common - although it has only started after the Christmas very cold weather -

As the problem was one of those that would never appear when you wanted to demonstrate it - we have never tried to get the problem diagnosed.

Until now, wife stranded on Monday - wouldn't start - she came back to it later in the day - no problem. She put into garage (a luxury for our cars) and no problems starting from there.

Tonight - it has been out till now (10:30) and it isn't that cold and it is dead as a dead thing.

Turning the key gives all the usual warning lights - the glow plug light goes out after a couple of seconds but nothing from the engine - no clicking starter just nothing. Previously we have had a couple of occasions where turning the first time fails - then on the second or third attempt it works fine. Now it is just dead and no number of attempts seems to be making any change.

Battery is showing 12.3v (not brilliant....?) but if this was the problem - I would have thought that we would have at least had an attempt at turning the engine over (with appropriate dying sounds).

Any suggestions welcome before we call the breakdown tomorrow?

It sounds like the starter solenoid is stuck, ar dead. VAG starters are apparently prone to clutch dust jamming them up.

Either that, or an immobiliser fault. Do you get any new icons on the dash? One whcih looks like the edge of a key under a car?

Edited 3 March, 201016 yr by rk696

Could be a broken/loose cable to the solenoid too. I would check the cables going to the starter and make sure that they are secure.

Ok we have an update.

Yesterday by 10:30 in the morning - my wife tried again and the car started - no hesitation, no problem!

I had booked it into local garage for today and took it down last night to leave it outside there. Unfortunatley - not so cold last night and it started first time for them. They left it an hour - tried again - still started first time, then another two hours - same again.

I had bought a new battery - so they fitted that for me but as they couldn't find a problem they were struggling for a suggestion (other than possibly sticking starter motor - but the solenoid appears to be clicking). We agreed that I would take it away to see if I could come up with a pattern to the failure......

Went back to start it - tried a few times - started each time - although there was a very short hesitation before it fired after truning the key (half sec?) each time - but it worked.

Then tried putting a little downward pressure on the key in the barrel whilst turning it and could replicate the deadness.....suggesting ignition wiring problem - however when I then tried to start (after showing the garage this) - it would fire (no pressure downwards on the barrel) but would die as soon as it had started.

This is accompanied by the flashing immobiliser symbol on the dash - suggesting immobiliser not recognising key........aaaarrrrgggggh. I know the problem occurs with both our keys so that appears to point back to the immobiliser on the vehicle. Garage (very good local gge) indicates he can't get immob info from Skoda so will have to go to them - if I can start it again - otherwise recovery!!

Any help anyone?

As the immobiliser symbol is flashing it could either be the reader coil, which I believe is around the ignition lock, or the cable from the reader coil to the dash pod.

I have a similar problem on a 02 plate Fabia 1.9 SDI.

Well, I say I do, my dad uses the car for his driving school so the intermittent refusal to start is a real problem. When it first happened a couple of weeks ago, he had been sat waiting in between lessons, started the engine to move off and it cut out within 3 seconds. We raced over to him with the second key to try that, with no success (still immob. light and no engine). So he was recovered by the AA and went to the dealership in Bradford.

Two days later the car comes back from the dealer, in the same condition, apparently they found no fault with the immobiliser, and instead reported that one of the keys was putting out a weak signal? I can only pressume that they mean the key fob is putting out a weak signal (low battery maybe) but it is not the problem as the doors unlock and lock on the button everytime. From what I understand the immobilisers work on RFID which would mean that the chip in the keys is not powered, as the induction loop behind the ignition barrel detects the presence of the correct chip.

Anyway, long story short, the dealership could offer no solution or suggestion directly linked to this problem. Instead they quoted me £300+ for a replacement ignition barrel meaning I would need two seperate keys, one for entering the car, the other to start it. This sounds expensive for a bodge / guessed diagnosis to me.

I'm going to try some of the suggestions from this forum. Sorry for hijacking your topic!

I see your point, but a dealer could order a replacement barrel with the original key pattern in it. That said, I think the problem is more likely to be the switch (which should be available without a barrel) or the induction loop.

Again, I've had exactly the same problem. My car appears to be fine besides this - every so often when I go to start my car it turns and fires but then the immobiliser kicks in and I end up with it cutting out and the flashing immobiliser light in the dash.

The problem now in retrospect probably started a while ago as last year the car began starting hesitantly every so often, e.g. starting fine (no immobiliser light showing) but with a half second or one second pause between key turn and ignition but now the problem has evolved to what appears to be an immobiliser issue.

I have tried both keys on the occasions where it wont start (neither worked suggesting its not the keys that are the problem....) and up until a few days ago my solution was to disconnect the battery, drain the circuit and reconnect again. This seemed to work (possibly by pure coincidence) up until this morning where it didn't.

When I called out the AA last time, he blamed radio masts for interfering with the signal between the reader coil and the chip......... I was parked next to a huge mast at the time so gave this the benefit of the doubt but now its pretty obvious that this isn't the case (no radio masts in my front garden as far as I've noticed ).

Its becoming a real problem now so if anyone can reccommend the fix + estimated prices, I would be very grateful (even if this means removing the immobiliser as a last resort!)

I live in North London and I drive a 2000 Skoda Fabia Elegance (not so elegant at present) 1.4 16v.......

Thanks!