Starting problems with key

Chat about your MKIV (6N) Polo
iggy350
Silver Member
Posts: 371
Joined: Mon Mar 26, 2007 10:43 am
Location: Huddersfield

Post by iggy350 »

Pedro_Hilario wrote:5m,

Take the plastic cover, check if the plugs also shakes like mine. Get a bit of plastic between the metal and plastic part where it sits and you're good to go. Make sure the plug clicks back into place. You dont want to be driving and the car shuts down because you didn't connect it right.

And voilá
Im filled with confidence now. I will die in my car haha
Pedro_Hilario
Bronze Member
Posts: 194
Joined: Wed Apr 07, 2004 2:12 pm
Location: Lisbon, Portugal

Post by Pedro_Hilario »

It's a plug. Odds are you can plug it back... i reckon!
iggy350
Silver Member
Posts: 371
Joined: Mon Mar 26, 2007 10:43 am
Location: Huddersfield

Post by iggy350 »

yea probably :) Ill have a look this weekend...it gets dark when i get home from work now :( tis well lame
sims
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Posts: 1
Joined: Sun Mar 23, 2008 5:28 pm
Location: Southmapton

Post by sims »

Pedro_Hilario wrote:I guess i need to take the whole thing out to take a better look at what is causing this.

If it's the ignition switch and not the barrel i won't need a new key or take it to VW, which will save me a lot of €.

Image

I already tried spraying it with WD40 but no luck. I thought it was because i was using my spare key, but guess not.

Lucky I have a start engine button on the centre console.
I have the same problem with my 6n. Does that picture sugest that the barrel comes out with the key?
polo-sib
Gold Member
Posts: 536
Joined: Mon Feb 04, 2008 11:11 pm
Location: Dartford

Post by polo-sib »

sims wrote:
Pedro_Hilario wrote:I guess i need to take the whole thing out to take a better look at what is causing this.

If it's the ignition switch and not the barrel i won't need a new key or take it to VW, which will save me a lot of €.

Image

I already tried spraying it with WD40 but no luck. I thought it was because i was using my spare key, but guess not.

Lucky I have a start engine button on the centre console.
I have the same problem with my 6n. Does that picture sugest that the barrel comes out with the key?
If you have the same problem I can guarantee you very close to 98% its the switch and not the barrel (i've had this scenario twice in 5,000 miles and it was the damn switch, roughly £20 a new switch fitting is about £110). As for does the barrel come out with the key? It doesn't matter as you won't need to take the ignition barrel out to get to the switch.

The switch is pulled out from the back of the barrel when you pull the steering column unit out (which is a pain, in the garage they used some big clipping tool to grip onto the column unit and pull it out). Then all you do is take old switch out and place the new switch back in and reassemble the steering column.
TomVW
New
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Nov 04, 2020 10:37 pm
Drives: 6N
Location: Sheffield

Re: Starting problems with key

Post by TomVW »

Hi, I’m having a similar problem with my Polo, it’s a 1996 VW Polo 6N 1.0 SPI, if I remember rightly it’s a AEV - I bought it a couple of weeks ago and saved it from the scrapper, went to look and it and collected it and it would fire up with the key, I got it home and bumped it down the road as the battery was dead and put it on the drive, then go to revisit it and try and jump it and it does nothing, doesn’t even turn over, almost like it’s immobiliser, thought it maybe have been starter originally with it being sat so long so whipped it off and hooked it up to a battery to see if it engaged and turned and it did, checked all fuses, relays etc, all seem to be fine, check faults with my snap on computer comes up with Cam Position sensor fault which I’m not too worried about but comes up with intermittent immobiliser fault 17978 is the code, immobiliser blocked engine start, had a look at the connections to the instrument cluster and that checks out, checked the transponder by putting up to the ring on the barrel still nothing, checked the wiring to the immobiliser from the ring on the barrel and it’s like brand new still has insulation on it from factory. Doesn’t have a aftermarket immobiliser fitted either, just curious as I would’ve thought it’d have still turned over whilst being jumped if it was the immobiliser and just not start but it doesn’t crank at all, no engagement with the starter at all. I’m going to try what you’ve mentioned with the key tomorrow, as there is a bit of slop in the barrel and if that failed I’ll take the column off and check this plug, if you guys have any more suggestions please let me know, I’ll keep updating if I find anything, cheers

By the way, the car will bump start quite happily and drive, but just nothing at the key, making me think the immobiliser is fine so fingers crossed the key trick works tomorrow.
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