jmmillerfzr

Has anyone tried one of these? Saw a video on youtube and found the item on ebay. I'm not worried about my car being stolen, 01 with 160k. More concerned about IMMO failing and a big repair bill at Audi.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/281427685535?_trksid=p2060778.m1438.l2661&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

BrianC72gt

of the many things that keep me up at night...zombie apocalypse...this is not one of them. Go to sleep.

fn_42

Never gonna happen, but this WOULD save you a lot of money on replacement keys...

twentysevenlitres

IF it works...

BrianC72gt

If you crack open your original key and are able to remove the transponder pellet from the blade end of the key without breaking it, you could epoxy it into the inside of the column cowling and use any key that fits thereafter.

Better still, find the recent thread on pulling your secret 4 digit IMMO code (cluster code) and pair up a couple of new keys.

https://www.audiworld.com/forums/a8-...01-s8-2873134/

You can buy just the blade end of the key from the dealer...give them you VIN and they can cut it to original spec It will have the pellet embedded in that portion of the housing. Pair it yourself and use an ebay sourced remote control end. I've yet to find an ebay sourced key blade with the proper transponder pellet inside.

jmmillerfzr

The thought has never kept me up at night. I think I'm more motivated by the fact I only have one working key and I'm a cheap bastard. I've been looking at pulling the IMMO code and trying to program my own key. I do like the idea of pulling the chip and leaving gluing it to the column. I've been told the car will think the key is in the ignition and not let you lock the doors, never tested this, also worried I might break the only working chip. For the $20 if I can just turn off IMMO I would call that a bargain.

BrianC72gt

Good point about the not locking the door part, and I totally respect the cheap bastard gene. My gizmo had an immobilize disable feature that claimed to work with a bunch of other VAG vehicles, but not the facelift A8. I tried it just for kicks, didn't work. I actually got it to work temporarily witht he IMMO symbol flashing the whole time, until I switched the ignition off, then it didn't. It was a one-use bypass. I'm not sure if Immo can be easily eliminated on this particular Audi, so I'm not sure if your $20 would be a waste of $$.

twentysevenlitres

I'm pretty certain the coil that energises the chip is ignition switched, so once the key is pulled out of the barrel, the coil de-energises. So if you wanted to go the way of gluing in the transponder, I reckon you'd get away with it!

jfrahm

The remote will not lock the doors if the RF transponder is near the ignition lock. The system assumes you are locking a key in the car. At least this is true on my 2001 A8, If you could disable this feature you could save the cost of getting your PIN and getting the correct RF transponder for your key, but you may still get stuck with some other immobilizer issue.

BrianC72gt

the real trick, I think, would be finding a reliable alternate source of key blanks with the correct RF pellet in the head. Remote ends are cheap, key cutting easy enough and puling the IMMO 4 digit code doable by a couple of proven diy methods. I've tried finding the correct frequency key head with no luck, ended up geting just he head - cut to the vin number - from my local dealer. Not all that expensive. Coded it myself and paired it to an ebay remote bottom.