Help please... Engine starts and shuts down

[emp]

Disclaimer: Not sure if this is the right forum or not, the Octavia I and II thing confused me a bit, I'm sorry if it isn't.

Hi there... please help me with this if you can, I have a real problem with my Skoda Octavia 2002 (ambiente?), I took it a few days ago to a place where I could get my hood fixed (it was a little bent, the damage was minor and the car was working perfectly fine), they told me that the first day the car worked great, but the second day it wouldn't turn on. They told me they didn't do anything out of the ordinary.

We tried jumping the car to start because we thought it might have been a dead battery, but the car does start but within seconds (1-3 seconds perhaps) it shuts itself down and you can see a blinking yellow car with a key icon saying "Service" below that. We called the local skoda dealer and they told us that the keys/car need reprogramming, however we have to take it down there.

Before I call a tow truck for this, I was reading the car manual and it says in the event of something like this happening then there's an emergency override method by turning the clock knob to the right, then pressing another button/knob down and I'll get on my display four "0" with the first one blinking for me to enter a 4 digit code, however I'm unable to this trick done, can anyone explain me how this is done?

[fordfan]

That's the immobiliser cutting in. It is not recognising the signal from the key, can you try another key in it? The manual will tell you the number entry procedure but you will need the secret key code for your car.

[emp]

Originally Posted by fordfan

That's the immobiliser cutting in. It is not recognising the signal from the key, can you try another key in it? The manual will tell you the number entry procedure but you will need the secret key code for your car.

Yes thank you for answering, I tried both keys and both are giving me problems, I do have the 4 digit code right now, and I tried following the procedure stated in the manual, but I wasn't able to get it working. Could you explain me that procedure maybe?

[auroan]

I've never heard of being able to enter the skc like this. New one on me.

[emp]

For all I know I could be doing everything wrong, do you know of any other alternate methods I could try?

[KenONeill]

You're in the right forum mate.

I've no idea how to solve your problem, but IMO the garage who were working on the hood are responsible for resolving the issue at their expense because it happened whilst the car was in their care.

[Cybergrizzly]

I was with EMP when we went to pick up the Octavia at the shop. What when wrong at the shop, who knows !!! Maybe they tried to start the car with a different key by mistake. We solved the problem by disconnecting the car battery for about 1 hour and reconnecting it after the hour. Result: OK...the computer or immobiliser reset itself and the car starts as it should, now. We are using the car now to see if the problem arises again.

Still, the question remains unanswered. The manual states a procedure to bypass the immobiliser by inserting the 4-digit code (which we have) and after that the car will start normally within 45 minutes. Future starts would have to continue to use the procedure until the car keys are reprogrammed at the dealer. During the problem event, we could not get to the 4-digit display on the speedometer to display. Have anyone know exactly how to perform the bypass procedure. I am driving the car now and probably will go to the dealer to find out what's the problem.

[auroan]

What page in the manual is the procedure on ?

[cheezemonkhai]

Daft Question but have you tried replacing Relay 109.

It's totally random, but if the car isn't getting the right power distribution then the immobiliser might go nuts and shut down.

Worth a shot I'd say, but can't be any more help

[DGW]

It might help too to have the car scanned for fault codes, eg with VAG-COM, to see if any relevant ones have been logged. In the meantime the procedure in the Owner's Manual for using the 4-digit code is the only one available, ie there is no alternative bypass method.