2004 Audi A4 will not start

[Edmond]

It's my buddy's car.

It drove fine this morning. This afternoon, he went out to start it and it would crank and turn but it would shut off immediately.

The car is just sitting at work for the night.

Any ideas on where to look first?

The car seems to fire and start but it cannot stay on. Maybe check the fuses first?

 

[tdpark]

sounds like the ignition swith

 

[Edmond]

Originally Posted By: tdpark
sounds like the ignition swith


That is very well possible.

Long story short, the metallic part of the key broke off from the plastic part so he was inserting the metallic part and turning it without the plastic on it.

We thought it might've been an anti-theft thing with a proximity issue with the plastic part of the key but it was not.

 

[skyship]

Was it running well before he parked it?? If the rpm was wondering slightly on the last trip without misfiring or smoke it could be a blocked fuel filter. If not you might need a code reader to figure out the problem.

 

[Edmond]

He said it was running fine.

 

[cutlassvillager]

It sounds like the anti-theft system to me. We had a very similar problem with an A4 at work. If you can, try another key. Also, when starting it and it shuts off check the odometer/gauges for the word "Safe." That always showed up when we were using the faulty key.

 

[chrome]

Sounds like the immobilizer. Quite typical VAG behaviour... cranks, fires and shuts down after 2 seconds.

 

[mechtech2]

Why didn't you mention the broken key in the original post??