SeanyQ
18-10-2007, 09:32 PM
Hi Everyone, This will be long, so skip to the end if you like.
I've owned my 96 Cordoba for about 2 months (http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/newforum/upload/showthread.php?t=7918). It came with only 1 key.
Yesterday while 2 hours north of Brisbane in a country town, I unlocked the boot, the key came apart (into 2) & the alarm went off. After a minute it turned off. Problem is the engine immobiliser has kicked in & the car will no longer turn over.
RACQ thought at first it was the alternator. I know next to nothing about mechanical things, but I've had an alternator pack it in on me in a previous car & I knew it had to be something to do with what happened to the key.
I got it towed to an auto electrician who's confirmed what I thought.
Main problem is, this was the 1 & only key for the car. After what felt like a 100 phone calls to VW Australia, the Gold Coast Proton dealer (where the car was bought new), who directed me to Renault Aus, who didn't want to know about me, the cycle kept going on & on. No one even knew what a Seat was, not even VW Aus who had no info about Seat's, nor had they even heard of one.
I was starting to feel like the guy off the Goggomobile ad ("G-o, GG-o").
The auto electrician has pulled the thing apart & is trying to work out what cord to pull out to kill the immobiliser. I've ended up getting a friend to come & rescue me to get back to Brisbane, but the mechanic says he doesn't even know if he'll be able to fix it. Meaning that I'm stuck with a car 2 hours away which doesn't even drive. My old Kia Rio memories are starting to grow fonder by this stage!
One QLD VW dealer thinks the key might be compatible with a Polo, so I'll get in touch with the Brisbane VW dealer tomorrow & see how I go. Otherwise they reckon it may take 3-4 weeks to import a key from Spain.
(Off topic a bit: my rental car then got reversed into by a Landcruiser out the front of the mechanics, the side completely smashed in, the drivers door no longer opens. I had to cough up with the rental car excess even though I wasn't at fault. Fortunately I felt bad for the lady in the Landcruiser & was nice to her, she happened to get in touch with the rental company & felt like crap when she heard about me paying the excess, so she's paying it in the morning & the rental company will forward me a cheque, so at least it could've been worse! How's my luck though?!)
So can anyone give me any advise on what I should do? There are no cliffs nearby that I can push the car off & prior to this, I really loved the car. So much so that my partners mother was set to buy a 95 Cordoba Auto from Brisbane on Saturday. Obviously we're rethinking that move after what's happened to me.
What do I need to do to get the car going again? Will I need to get a key imported from Spain or is a VW key compatible?
Am I going to run into this problem with Seat parts with everything or can some be sourced from VW as I initially thought before I bought the thing?
The mother in law doesn't have a lot of money & didn't want to spend over $4k on a car, hence the reason I initially steered her towards a Cordoba. Should we now be steering clear of them?
Before I bought the car, I thought Aus laws meant that Seat parts would need to be available for 10 years after they ceased importing Seats to Aus. Who are we supposed to be getting the parts from if this is the case? As I said before, I was lucky if anyone had even heard of a Seat, let alone be able to give me any advise on it.
I'm obviously a little stressed right now, literally just having arrived back in Brisbane & not knowing if I'll have a car within a month.
So any help would be hugely appreciated.
Cheers for reading!
I've owned my 96 Cordoba for about 2 months (http://www.vwwatercooled.org.au/newforum/upload/showthread.php?t=7918). It came with only 1 key.
Yesterday while 2 hours north of Brisbane in a country town, I unlocked the boot, the key came apart (into 2) & the alarm went off. After a minute it turned off. Problem is the engine immobiliser has kicked in & the car will no longer turn over.
RACQ thought at first it was the alternator. I know next to nothing about mechanical things, but I've had an alternator pack it in on me in a previous car & I knew it had to be something to do with what happened to the key.
I got it towed to an auto electrician who's confirmed what I thought.
Main problem is, this was the 1 & only key for the car. After what felt like a 100 phone calls to VW Australia, the Gold Coast Proton dealer (where the car was bought new), who directed me to Renault Aus, who didn't want to know about me, the cycle kept going on & on. No one even knew what a Seat was, not even VW Aus who had no info about Seat's, nor had they even heard of one.
I was starting to feel like the guy off the Goggomobile ad ("G-o, GG-o").
The auto electrician has pulled the thing apart & is trying to work out what cord to pull out to kill the immobiliser. I've ended up getting a friend to come & rescue me to get back to Brisbane, but the mechanic says he doesn't even know if he'll be able to fix it. Meaning that I'm stuck with a car 2 hours away which doesn't even drive. My old Kia Rio memories are starting to grow fonder by this stage!
One QLD VW dealer thinks the key might be compatible with a Polo, so I'll get in touch with the Brisbane VW dealer tomorrow & see how I go. Otherwise they reckon it may take 3-4 weeks to import a key from Spain.
(Off topic a bit: my rental car then got reversed into by a Landcruiser out the front of the mechanics, the side completely smashed in, the drivers door no longer opens. I had to cough up with the rental car excess even though I wasn't at fault. Fortunately I felt bad for the lady in the Landcruiser & was nice to her, she happened to get in touch with the rental company & felt like crap when she heard about me paying the excess, so she's paying it in the morning & the rental company will forward me a cheque, so at least it could've been worse! How's my luck though?!)
So can anyone give me any advise on what I should do? There are no cliffs nearby that I can push the car off & prior to this, I really loved the car. So much so that my partners mother was set to buy a 95 Cordoba Auto from Brisbane on Saturday. Obviously we're rethinking that move after what's happened to me.
What do I need to do to get the car going again? Will I need to get a key imported from Spain or is a VW key compatible?
Am I going to run into this problem with Seat parts with everything or can some be sourced from VW as I initially thought before I bought the thing?
The mother in law doesn't have a lot of money & didn't want to spend over $4k on a car, hence the reason I initially steered her towards a Cordoba. Should we now be steering clear of them?
Before I bought the car, I thought Aus laws meant that Seat parts would need to be available for 10 years after they ceased importing Seats to Aus. Who are we supposed to be getting the parts from if this is the case? As I said before, I was lucky if anyone had even heard of a Seat, let alone be able to give me any advise on it.
I'm obviously a little stressed right now, literally just having arrived back in Brisbane & not knowing if I'll have a car within a month.
So any help would be hugely appreciated.
Cheers for reading!