2014 SE. Had a low battery which failed to start the car. New battery. Car will start but dies after 3 seconds. Full tank of petrol. Dash engine light goes off but EPC remains on. Dash panel shows 'Safe' at all times.

List of items checked:

All fuses.

Key fob battery.

Spare key tried.

Cam sensor changed.

Ignition barrel and reader antenna changed.

Crank sensor passes check.

Fuel supply checked - OK.

Throttle body checked.

Multiple connectors checked.

Battery disconnected, leads shorted.

Dash panel removed and inspected, pcb appears OK.

Skoda main dealer suggest changing dash panel but will not guarantee diagnosis.

Any ideas anybody?

Hello, welcome to the forum.

Engine starting, then stopping within a short time sounds like an engine immobiliser issue to me - possibly reinforced by the 'Safe' being displayed on the instrument cluster. Has immobiliser been checked?

Thanks Warrior. No, the immobiliser has not been independently checked, any idea how to go about doing that?

Has the main stealer scanned your car for DTCs - if so what are they?

I don't know how the immobiliser operation is tested, but I imagine it would require looking at live data with a scan device via the OBD port.

Apparently no fault codes were found. I have spoken to Ross-Tech in the USA who confirm that VCDS cannot talk to the immobiliser.

I believe I have seen references to immobiliser deletes on the forum, this might be worth a try if VCDS or ODIS are unable to communicate with it - although I do think that very odd and that there must be some way of interrogating the immobiliser!

Edited yesterday at 10:121 day by Warrior193
correction

Thanks again. It was well beyond the scope of the main dealer nearest to us. I'll give it a day or two then post again seeking someone who can delete the immobiliser. Incidentally I had a grumble to Skoda UK HQ, not really expecting a reply but the deputy CEO phoned and sympathised but of course we agreed they could not help with az12 year old car. At least they know what's happened.

If SAFE is displayed then I reckon imobiliser is stuck on. Had same problem with old SEAT as I used a bad key fob which I assume transponder chip had given up. Couldn't get imobilser to go off afterwards even with good key. Seat garage said they may have to reprogramme ECU/imobilser at quite a cost as codes etc would have to come from SEATEurope and maybe a new ECU. I ended up getting another car and left old Seat in my carpark. Eventually battery went flat and when I charged it up to try it again it worked for some unnown reason. Maybe disconnect battery for a longer time (overnight or more) and see if it helps. Also check any fuses related to security etc. You could also try and resync key fob with car. Also try key in ignition and turn till dash lights are on but dont crank and leave for 15-20 mins. This can sometimes resync key with imobilser.

Alasdair

Difficult to see how your main dealer could not diagnose for possible immobiliser issue - they will have ODIS, which, from my understanding, will have access to it.

I guess it's another case of 'all the gear, but no clue'!

Thanks both.

I'll try your idea Alasdair but I'm fairly sure the ignition will have been on for lengthy periods while I was checking other things. Won't hurt to try though. It's the reprogramming cost that is the problem, Skoda wanted to change the dash panel but will not guarantee the result but will charge 1400.00. If that doesn't work I'm back to square one and 1400 quid down on a vehicle worth 2 or 3k.

How would you resync the key with the car? I should say the remote locking etc works perfectly.

Warrior, the main dealers were very nice people but had the car for 11 weeks and could not get anywhere. Oddly they suggested the immobiliser but then wanted to change the dash panel.

My SEAT dealer wanted £100 plus vat to plug it in with no guarantee they could fix it. Plus if it needed an ECU and reprogramming reckon would cost more than the car was worth so told them not to bother plus the AA had scanned it previously and no codes but got as far as imobilser problem but couldnt access it either so I got it recovered home. As said once battery was flat and it was left for a few months it seemed to cure itself.

Alasdair

28 minutes ago, TonyBenn said:

Thanks both.

I'll try your idea Alasdair but I'm fairly sure the ignition will have been on for lengthy periods while I was checking other things. Won't hurt to try though. It's the reprogramming cost that is the problem, Skoda wanted to change the dash panel but will not guarantee the result but will charge 1400.00. If that doesn't work I'm back to square one and 1400 quid down on a vehicle worth 2 or 3k.

How would you resync the key with the car? I should say the remote locking etc works perfectly.

Warrior, the main dealers were very nice people but had the car for 11 weeks and could not get anywhere. Oddly they suggested the immobiliser but then wanted to change the dash panel.

They had the car for 11 weeks!

I'd strongly suggest taking it to an independent VAG workshop - check that they have access to ODIS.

Thanks again both. Taking to an indy would involve yet more expense as it will need to be trailered but I will find one and have a chat. If they are sure they can fix it then I'll go for it.

Not sure on the citigo but might be BCM related? If its failing/corosion then it could put on imobilzer as I believe that the imobilzer/security systems use BCM for imobilzer

Alasdair

Thanks, I would havexexpected a fault code for that. The vehicle has very little, if any, corrosion but I would certainly check forit if you know where the bcm is?

Not sure exactly where in citigo. Read its above the fuse box but difficult to see. You could try resync the key. I think the citigo is different to fabia so not sure how. Did find this on Ai so ??? but worth a go

Roll down the driver's window (to ensure you don’t get locked out).

1. Manually lock the driver's door using the physical key blade.

2. Turn the key toward the front of the car and press and hold the Unlock button on the fob for about 5–10 seconds.

3. Turn the key toward the back of the car and press and hold the Lock button for 5–10 seconds.

4. Take the key out, get into the vehicle, and insert it into the ignition.

5. Turn the ignition to position 2 (dash lights on, but do not start the engine) for a few seconds, then turn it off.

I assume that all fuses in engine bay including the strip fuses in front of battery are all good. Not sure what else to try

Alasdair.

Thanks Alasdair,

I'll give it a go.

Regards

Think from memory you have to keep and hold key turned towards front and then rear of car when pressing lock/unlock buttons. Tried it on my Seat but didn't work as the transponder chip was bad. As a last resort maybe a chat with an autolock smith. They may be able to check system and perhaps delete imobilser for you to get you going again. I suspect though removing imobilser may be an insurance problem.

Alasdair

Thanks again, I'll let you know if I get anywhere!