Reprogramming Audi A3 Key

dirtychinchilla · 26 Feb 2013 at 22:17

Evening all,

I followed a guide I found online for how to reprogram an Audi key and it seems to have really messed the keys up. They're now quite temperamental.

Could anyone provide me with a definitive guide?

And what the hell do you do if neither keys work? (not actually in this situation, but I'd like to be prepared for the worst)

dirtychinchilla

dirtychinchilla · 26 Feb 2013 at 22:41

Ah OK cool. Well you kind of need to press one of the fobs I think...

It's MK1, 2003.

dirtychinchilla · 26 Feb 2013 at 22:47

Oh right, is it not possible to do the immobilizer then? :-(

dirtychinchilla · 26 Feb 2013 at 22:50

This looks good but would it work completely?

dirtychinchilla · 26 Feb 2013 at 23:13

Can you accidentally unprogram the immobilizer?

dirtychinchilla · 26 Feb 2013 at 23:17

When I say the immobilizer I mean disconnect it from the key?

dirtychinchilla · 26 Feb 2013 at 23:30

Oh right, ok. What I'm confused about then is whether the key will turn on the immobiliser if I've programmed it myself as it tells me in those instructions.

Can I simply follow that guide and then not worry about it? Forgive my ignorance

dirtychinchilla · 26 Feb 2013 at 23:38

Ok cool, that's what I'd thought. Can I test if the key is activating the immobiliser? I guess it's working when the light flashes when you lock it?

dirtychinchilla · 26 Feb 2013 at 23:40

Firestar_3x said:
No, you can program a new key to unlock the car but you can't program it yourself to start the engine.

*as above...

Ah so I've missed something here. The immobiliser activates/deactivates if the key works in the ignition?

dirtychinchilla · 26 Feb 2013 at 23:41

paradigm said:
The immobilizer stops you starting the car, that's it.

It has nothing to do with locking, unlocking, hazard lights, or your teapot.

Haha thank you for the clarification.

dirtychinchilla · 26 Feb 2013 at 23:50

Ok so how do I know if it's actually doing its job then?

dirtychinchilla · 26 Feb 2013 at 23:54

Firestar_3x said:
If the car recognises the transponder in the key, they key might physically turn the ignition but that's only half the story, it also has to recognise the transponder in the key.

paradigm said:
Can you start the car? If yes, then the key has the right transponder. If no, then the transponder is knackered.

Are you getting a little orange light with a key symbol on the dashboard? Does it come on breifly when you turn on the ignition, and then go out again? If so, its fine.

I see, but firestar's post has confused me...I'll look for that symbol tomorrow.

dirtychinchilla · 27 Feb 2013 at 00:06

paradigm said:
He is just trying to explain that nothing physically stops the key turning, or even turning on the electical systems. But without a working transponder that the immobilizer can sense, the car will never start, as there won't be power going to the ignition coils.

I get it now.

Firestar_3x said:
The key has three parts, the physical key, the immobiliser transponder and the remote central locking circuit board.

The key part will allow you to manually unlock the car and turn the ignition, but with the key alone you can't start the car.

The remote central locking circuit board allows you remotely unlock the car, nothing more, this is what you've programmed.

Neither of the above alone will allow you to start the car.

To start the car you need both the physical key and immobiliser transponder, the transponder deactivates the cars immobiliser, this can only be programmed by the dealer.

If you stick the key in the ignition and try and start the car and it starts, this means both the key and transponder are working.

If you can't start the car with the key this means the dealer needs to program the transponder, you can tell if this is the case because the car won't start and the key icon will be in the dash.

Ok I've got it all now

Thanks a lot! That penultimate paragraph explains everything haha.

Apologies for my stupidity, now I've just got to get them programmed correctly using that guide