allroad2point7t

Immobilizer - What is this feature and what does it do for my allroad?

allroad(s) lead 2Gavin

It is something to prevent vehicle/ECU theft. It basically marries your car to an ECU...

So you cannot simply remove your ECU and put it in another vehicle or vice-versa...

The two need to be married via the VAG tool...

Hope that makes sense...

Gavin

paulroad

it also marries the keys to the car..random encoding...

dan farmer

If so, what can I do if I want to swap ECU's before bringing the car to the dealer?

-df

skidmark

you need to code both ecus to the car

paulroad

The immobilizer is actually in the instrument cluster. It codes your ECU and your keys. Its a very complex anti-theft system that renders your car, your cluster and your ECU useless to the average thief...

To swap ECU's there is the need for VAG-COM and certain security codes known as the SKC...Secret Key Code... you get this code from your dealer. There is a process outlined on www.ROSS-tech.com that explains the "how to" for ECU swapping.<ul><li><a href="http://www.ross-tech.com/vag-com/cars/Immo3-ecu-swapping.html">ecu swap prtocol</a></li></ul>

dan farmer

Swapping ECU's gets ugly with Immo 3! I'm assuming that my 2001 allroad uses Immo 3, since the dealer had to get a secret key code from Audi in order to make my new key work. They said they're not allowed to share this code with the customer. This kinda makes me want to go with APR over GIAC, since switching back to stock would be easier. I'll be out of warranty soon, so stock mode is mostly for diagnosis of problems.

-df

skidmark

the original owner got with the car

paulroad

with GIAC there is no ECU swaping...its the chip that is swapped this bypasses the immobilizer code.
GIAC de-solders you stock chip, puts in a SOCKET and plugs in their chip.
You can then unplug and plug in the stock..about 10 minutes of work.