Odd Passat problem, anyone heard of this before?

Phate · 3 Jan 2017 at 16:48

Hi all,

it's a 2006 Passat diesel. I'm 90% sure its the 2.0 but tbh I need to check to confirm.

Anyway, it's got an odd issue. Have taken it to the dealers before and they can't find anything wrong with it.

Every now and again (at complete random) and to give you an idea of how often since we've owned it from June today is the 3rd time it's happened. The car just decides it doesn't want to start.

Put the key in, lights come on, dash lights up, all seems fine. Press the key in to start and the engine cranks over but...nothing, nada. The engine will NOT fire. If you hold the key down long enough you'll need a jump pack as it'll kill the battery trying to start it.

When we took it to the dealer before they suggested it was possibly the battery but they said there were no errors being logged to the ecu. So the battery was replaced at the time however the issue has come back now twice since then.

What makes this strange is the lack of consistency with the thing. It also worries me in case it leaves one of us a bit stuck!

Normally it gets left for a few hours then we go back and try again then it fires up as if nothing happened. The problem is now making me begin to lose trust/faith in the car tbh. Not something I want with everything else going on right now.

Anyone experienced this before on these particular cars? Otherwise it's been brilliant and runs fantastically. Ideally I want to get another year out of it before looking to replace.

When Googling I am not coming up with anything solid or people stating this being a common issue with them either. But maybe I am being rubbish at this.

Any suggestions welcome!

TIA
Jake

paradigm · 3 Jan 2017 at 16:50

Sounds like an immobiliser based problem to me.

When it has happened, has it been after the car has remained unused for a period of time?

Phate · 3 Jan 2017 at 16:54

paradigm said:
Sounds like an immobiliser based problem to me.

When it has happened, has it been after the car has remained unused for a period of time?

Not especially. It gets driven fairly regularly. At least a few times a week. And we do do a lot of long journeys in it. Once a month we drive North to SWMBO's parents. Thats 300km each way.

I took it to Alicante in December, that was a 2200km round trip.

It was last driven on Sunday when I collected Ana from work, that was 60km. Ana tried it this morning and it's happening now. So 36hrs since being driven? roughly.

If its immobiliser I'm guessing the car is going to be riddled with sensors for it? Therefore making it hard to pinpoint down?

paradigm · 3 Jan 2017 at 16:55

Doing a quick bit of googling suggests that Passats of that era suffered problems relating to the steering column lock/switch unit. Most of them manifest themselves slightly differently to yours though.

Phate · 3 Jan 2017 at 16:57

paradigm said:
Doing a quick bit of googling suggests that Passats of that era suffered problems relating to the steering column lock/switch unit. Most of them manifest themselves slightly differently to yours though.

I read similar. But like you say, not really anyone having the same result as me :confused:

oap · 3 Jan 2017 at 17:44

Had an old citroen that used to do that, it was the ignition unit/steering column and suggested earlier, just got rid of in the end

Phate · 3 Jan 2017 at 17:55

Well the current plan is for me to give it a go when I get home. I read on another forum that shaking the steering wheel for all its worth might resolve the issue, temporarily anyway. If I can't get it going we'll get it collected and taken to a dealer. If we can we'll take it to a dealer on the weekend.

Ultimately, if VW cannot confidently confirm its resolved or don't give us a straight answer. It's going. Right now neither of us trust the car.

Akagi · 3 Jan 2017 at 18:02

MX5 does this very occasionally, its related to the aftermarket immobiliser it has fitted.

Definitely sounds immobiliser related.

Scania · 3 Jan 2017 at 20:05

My V70 diesel can be a pig to start if you follow the glow plug light and try to start it when it goes out like you'd expect, instead if you wait 15-20seconds from turning on the ignition- ignoring the glow plug light going out - it'll start first turn of the key, even when frozen up in the early hours!

I was going to suggest this to the OP but would assume his climate to be a fair bit warmer than ours at this time of year?

Firestar_3x · 3 Jan 2017 at 20:18

Crank position sensor would be my guess, it caused starting issue in my B5, gradually got worse and then refused to start at all.

Phate · 4 Jan 2017 at 08:06

So I managed to get this going last night. Got in the car and attempted to start whilst shaking the steering wheel left and right vigorously. It fired, hurrah!

Spoke to the father in law (who owned the car previously) and he told us this issue should have been fixed and was in the dealership for repair less than 12 months ago.

So looks like it'll be going back under warranty as the issue still exists!