Hello i I own a 01' audi tt 180 and recently changed the battery i must have spiked something cuz now the car starts for a sec then dies out. The instrument cluster goes crazy with the immoblizer light flickering. has anyone ever ran into this problem? I 'm sure the dealer is going to hand it to me with this problem.

 

Immobilizer (ECU Swapping Info)
Audi:
All vehicles equipped with an immobilizer by 2002. Only exception is that some TTs in 00 had an immobilizer.
Volkswagen:
All vehicles equipped with an immobilizer in 2000.
The immobilizers is a theft prevention measure. If you swap an ECU without matching up the ECU and the cluster, it will start briefly and then die repeatedly flashing the immobilizer light on the dash (looks like a car outline with the base a key). There are 2 kinds of immobilizer. Immo II used on pre 2002, and Immo III used on 2002+. Immobilizer and ECU info can be found on the VAG COM Site.
Immo2
Immo3
If swapping an engine into a car without an immobilizer/cluster, you can get software for swaps from many chip tuners that remove the immobilizer from the ECU.

Click IMMO2 for more help

 

So i'm assuming i need a new ecu?

 

check your ground for the battery.

 

underneath the battery casing right?

 

No, if you have an immo problem, a vagcom or dealer can unlock it for you

 

Cleaned up the grounds, and its still doing the same thing. Car was taken to the dealer yesterday morning, they re going to look at it tomorrow morning. Thinking worst case scenario, i was reading the vag com site and the install of the ecu doesn t seem to complicated and of course i would have to bring it to the dealer afterwards, have any of you guys ever done this install? just looking to save some money

 

You need the immo code. If you dont have it, the dealer should have it and install it and everything should be good. Your car thinks its trying to be stolen

 

So the car came back home yesterday and according to the dealer the instrument cluster had been spiked,$1200.00 later and a reset on the immobilizer the car runs fine. BIG Thank You to Kyle Johnson fastvwaudiparts, cincytt, and rayveedub.