Passat 97 sometimes not starting
 

Hi

I am new here. I bought my first car recently. A 1997 Passat sedan 1.8T. I live in Sweden, for Americans I think that model was first introduced in 1998. Wikipedia calls it a B5.

I love the car and it feels quite luxurious thanks to the wooden panel. It has 180000km (about 110000 miles) on it which means 10000km per year which is less than my stepfathers car from 2007 and it feels really good to drive. It is comfortable and I have not felt so good in a car since my stepfather had a 2001 Saab 9-5.

However I do have a problem. Sometimes there is a key symbol on a dash displaying when I start the car and then it dies. The manual says this is the electronic theif guard system that checks if the key is legit. I got a brand new key from VW thinking it would fix the problem but it still happens. The thing is it only happens sometimes. It can be fine for a few weeks but then it requires several attempts all of a sudden to start. I am afraid that at some point it won't start at all. Can I disable this security (no one is looking to steal such an old car here anyway) or fix it?

Thank you for your help.

Looks like this.

http://i.fixya.net/uploads/images/tdisline_775.jpg

Welcome to the forum. Attachment 2554

Well that's the immobilizer warning light that will allow the car to start for a second or two only. Is that the only key you have?

You could try disconnecting the battery leads and hold them together to discharge any capacitors in the system then reconnect and try it again.

You need to get it to a dealer for fixing.

https://volkswagenforum.com/forum/ne...gnature-34185/