audi a4 1.9tdi engine code afn please help

[mpep666]

first of all hi to all im new on here so please be gentle
i own a 97 a4 1.9tdi with the 110 bhp afn engine ive had the car for just over 100k miles and she is now upto 230k miles in total i do all my own servicing but these little issues are a bit over my head
1. on start up i get a flashing immoberliser light on the dash and it wont start, try again and she will start. thought it may of been the key at first but its the same with both keys. its been like it for over a year now and does not appear to be getting worse but is bugging me more and more any help on this would be most welcome.
2. occasionaly and i mean maybe once every five thousand miles or so the engine goes to safe mode ie no power. i pull over switch off and then on and all is well again ive changed the air mass meter and given her another service just last week but whilst trying to overtake a lorry today she did it again not funny with my kids in the car and a lorry driver who just carried on at 55 mph forcing me back in behind .
in short is this the time to start looking for another car or is she in need of a bit of tlc at audi to my huge expense
ps sorry to go on ive read that its possible to buy a code reader or maybe software for my laptop to hook up to the car and diagnose faults / reset service lights ect please can someone let me know where to buy one and which is the best one many thanks again mpep666:1zhelp:

[adamss24]

Answers: 1. I would have the car scanned for fault codes, this would point towards either key or immobiliser unit. Low battery(old) charge may lead to symilar symptoms. 2. The VNT controller rod from the turbocharger gets jammed due to carbon build-up on the turbocharger vanes. Easy to cure by taking the car for a blast down the motorway every week. 3. Vag com compatible leads can be purchased off e-bay for less than 20 pounds, cracked version can be downloaded off Limeware, Emule or bit torrent sites...or the shareware version(409) can be downloaded from www.rosstech.com. Hope this helps.

[mpep666]

HI HAVE JUST ORDERED VAG CABLE FROM EBAY SO WILL HAVE TO WAIT A BIT MORE AS FOR CARBON BUILD UP I TRAVEL 1000 MILES A WEEK ON MOTORWAYS AND THE PROBLEM PERSISTS I DO THINK SOMETHING IS UP WITH THE BOOST AS I JUST DROVE A PASSAT 110 SAME ENGINE AND IT WOULD BLOW MY CAR AWAY ON ACCELERATION, IT REMINDS ME OF THE HORRENDUS TURBO LAG I USED TO GET ON MY FIESTA RS MANY YEARS AGO YOU CAN HEAR THE TURBO WIND UP AND THEN SUDDENLY IN COMES THE POWER NEVER EVEN NOTICED IT WAS A PROBLEM UNTILL I DROVE THE PASSAT ANY MORE IDEAS MOST WELCOME MANY THANKS:D