Passat starting - ignition switch again?

[Tony Hoffman]

The others have covered the starting issues.

Your car does have the immobilizer. VW put it in all the cars starting
sometime in the 2000 model year run. When activated, your car will
crank and start as normal, then die after about a second.

The problem areas for water in Passat's and A4's/A6's is water in the
passenger side footwell. This mostly affects the auto trans control
unit, which your car obviously doesn't have. However, you may want to
double check that there isn't a harness that runs down there that has
any corrosion.

However, I'd start with the simple things, like pulling and checking
the starter and having the battery checked. Of course, "simply"
pulling the starter isn't so simple on that car either............

HTH,
Tony


On Wed, Sep 16, 2009 at 5:27 PM, Peter Orban <orbanp1 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Hello Everyone,
>
> The starting gremlins are back. The car is a '03 Passat, V6, 5-SPM.
> Last year the car gradually became hard to start, I turned the ignition and nothing (dash lit up, but no cranking). Then after a couple of tries the car started up all right. At the end I had to try about 4 - 5 times, though the required number of tries was random. This spring I replaced the ignition switch with one from the dealer, as suggested here. Starting improved, though a number of occasions it did not start at the first try. Now it is getting worse again.
> The car has the original battery, but I do not think that is the cause. When cranking the battery voltage drops to about 10.5V - 10.7V. When the engine cranks, it always turns over quite lively, and the engine catches right away, nothing like a dying battery.
> I do not think that it is the clutch lockout. I keep the clutch depressed, the engine does not crank, and then the engine starts up fine after a number of tries.
> Just like a failing ignition switch!
> Are those switches that bad?
> The switch that I took out looks pristine, no discoloration, burns, or anything...
> Any other reasons for not starting? Could a flaky immobilizer cause things like this? I do not think that I have water in the driver's side footwell (the other side is a different story).
>
> Obligatory Audi content: I just sent my '83 4k to car heaven recently :-(
>
> Thanks, Peter