UK-POLOS.NET - THE VW Polo Forum

Morning all.

I’ve recently bought a 2000 6n2 GTi. Lovely fun car that has great potential. But…..

It only came with one key. (No worries I’ll just buy another blank and get it cut)

The central locking is ‘intermittent’ (poss low battery) from the key fob.

Now this is the annoying part…. There is a button to the right of the ignition to start the engine.

So keys in, turn twice then you have to press this button to start the car. If you turn the key to position 3 like normal, nothing happens and the lights go out.

I spoke to the seller and they said the car battery was completely dead so they did a quick fix to get the car going.

The central locking all works fine when you put the key in the door and turn. All locks/unlocks fine.

The light on the remote works but sometimes stays on or flashes (doesn’t seem the same every time)

I’ve tried doing a fob reset as in the manual instructions and strangely enough it actually worked once from the fob. Then nothing again.

I’ve had the key read and it’s an ID44 chip.

Now I don’t mind spending some money getting it done right but I’ve no idea where to start!

Any advice on this would be amazing as I’d like to return the Polo to how it left the factory!

Many thanks Sooty.

Well that was a great response for my first post.

The button next to the ignition is probably put there to bypass the ignition switch, which might be malfunctioning. It's a pain in the *ss to replace because it's a labor intensive fix. Once you've removed the steering wheel, indicator/wiper handles and (this is the part most people struggle with -->) a steering wheel adapter on the steering column, it's literally 1 freaking screw and 5mins worth of work to replace the ignition switch. Then you'd have to mount everything back. So this button is a quick fix to the problem. I don't think this has anything to do with your locking issue though. The problem might me in the fob itself. It's either not working properly or not programmed properly. Have you checked the locking module for any bad connections? It should be in in the back of the car next to the rear light (for UK drivers side).

Great reply thank you.

Eventually ordered a new key with transponder and did the usual leave key in ignition, shut door, lock door etc…. Magically it worked!!! So now I have central locking… but I still turn the key twice and have to press the button as the third turn of the key does nothing.

Sounds like a big job for a problem, so I understand why a button was installed.


Very annoying as I’ll have to cure the problem back to factory.