ECU problems - attempting to match Immobiliser with ECU....and failing

[stefanhenchoz]

Hi Guys,

Im new to Audi and to the forum. Bought an A3 2.0 FSI Sport in Sep and have since been having problems with it. To cut a long story short its come down to a faulty ECU.

The car is currently at my local Audi specialist in Guernsey (where I live) for replacement ECU, however it's been in for 3 days now (today being the 4th day) and they are still struggling with it. Last time I spoke to them, they said that they had retrieved the codes from Audi and that was fine, but they were finding it difficult to link the ECU with Immobiliser?

Does anyone know of anything/any info that I could pass onto them? If Id known it was gonna be this much trouble I would have taken it to the dealers - even though their labour prices are extortionate being based on this tiny island!

any comments/suggestions from any of you would be much appreciated

Cheers

Shane

 

[stefanhenchoz]

just went down to the guys sorting it out - they said that the equipment theyre using does not currently support the coding of immo 4 to my engine. blah. off to the dealers it is

 

[Khufu]

doh, i hope they didnt charge you! Is the car at least still drivable?

 

[dc240969]

when l had a fault with my ECU they just swapped it out for one that was in a car in the showroom.

 

[stefanhenchoz]

no car not driveable! havent been charged a penny yet plus the specialist is paying for the flatbed as well! its getting lifted to the dealers today and should have it back before the weekend. the problem I have is that the Audi Dealership in Guernsey is full to the brim of robbing cowboys. They are notorious for taking short cuts on services and get this - they charge nearly DOUBLE the hourly rate that my local Audi specialist are charging me. The specialist and the delaer don't really get on and so the specialist always source parts from Audi Southampton as they find them to be much more helpful (and cheaper). For example the price of this ECU from Audi Southampton was £360 and thats what the specialist is charging me. The price from the dealer here in Guernsey of the exact same part is........ £540!! Now baring in mind the price from the dealer should be VAT free as Im in Guernsey (ie - cheaper than the Audi Southampton part) i find that one hell of a mark up!! Extortion could be another word for it! And to make matters worse the guy who deals with booking in Audis for services at the dealership is not responding to any calls from the boss of the specialist I took my car to. So here I am caught in the middle of this dispute with a car that hasnt worked for 5 days now and an Audi dealership that is being FAR from helpful. Is it time I took it into my own hands and sorted it out?!

I admit that I should have taken the car to the dealer in the first place, but 1) I wasnt to know the specialist would have such difficulty (plus they seemed pretty confident they would do it) and 2) i didnt really want to fork out the rates that the audi dealership charge for work. I think it would be cheaper getting on a ferry to Portsmouth - get it towed to Southampton Audi and getting it done there! not happy! lol

 

[NHN]

Curious, does your indy have vagcom, as if they have all the skc etc, then vagcom can code the ecu to the immo, what equipment do they have?

Does the guernsey dealership fall under the UK boss of audi?

If so then I'd complain to them & I have 2 email address if need be.

 

[stefanhenchoz]

not sure what equipment they were using mate. they have only recently acquired all the kit to do things like that its a vagcom of some sort i think. but he said what the machine they needed to recode my immo4 to this ecu was a something something 550? if that makes sense? i think that's what he said. costs a bomb apparently? and there's only 1 on the island - and guess who has it? oh yes Jacksons (Audi Dealer).

well they are privately owned i think - but surely if they have the dealership then they must have some sort of protocol to follow specifically given to them by audi? it might just be worth a letter to audi actually. eventually got through to them today (after 5 times trying) and spoke to the guy whos been ignoring the boss of the indy that has my car. he seemed quite shocked when i called actually which is quite funny out and was quite apologetic. he said he'd call me back, which he never did but it turns out that he called the boss of the indy and managed to book it in for Tuesday of NEXT WEEK!! so a " hour long job" has now turned in to what will be me being without my car for 7 working days. joke.

thanks for all your comments guys. sorry i keep going on, just bugs me stuck here with only 1 dealer to choose from