57-reg Passat steering column lock message: low battery or other reason?

[JK17]

Good evening.

I bought a used 57-reg Passat estate (2.0 TDI SE DSG) about a week and a half ago. It's been driving well and has a good history. The past several mornings I've gotten the steering column lock message.

Based on the past several days, it seems to happen when first starting on a cold(er) morning. It also happened yesterday afternoon after not getting the warning message in the morning and after it had been parked for about 2 hours as it got colder.

The yellow coil light blinks along with steering wheel lock light which blinks red when doing the pre-start. The dashboard message is "Steering column lock defective", followed by the engine cutting off when starting the engine. I can remove the key and restart without it happening again. It can happen with either of the two keys.

The dealer's and my first guess is to have the battery checked since it might be low, which can apparently trigger unrelated warning messages. I've seen that on various posts and will take it to be looked at this week.

Is that a reasonable first place to start? Video link is MVI 4841 - YouTube and pictures below. In the worse case scenario, it could be the notorious issue with these cars which supposedly is not a difficult fix - and one that I'll ask the used car dealer to resolve. The used car dealer is a bit of a drive, which is why I'd rather have the battery checked locally then deal with any other issues if that doesn't fix the problem.

Thoughts?

Thanks!
Joe
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[DieselMonster]

I doubt it's the battery, there are however methods of finding out how much battery is left. I personally believe your steering wheel immobiliser is on its way out and it's at its early stages so it's only appearing once in a while. I wouldn't ask the dealers to do this as they'll charge for a new steering wheel column and perhaps a new key, they'll rinse you. I suggest you read about the issue and come to a proper understanding of what is wrong. I've faced this issue three times on my B6, first time diagnostic dude came with his fancy computers and fixed it, after three years it came again and we got another diagnostic dude to fix it. Third time I fixed it myself within one day. I removed steering wheel, took off immobiliser, removed the jammed immobiliser lock which is a small black tab on a spring and haven't had the issue since.

[JK17]

Thanks - that seems to be the case. The mechanic checked the battery and all is good there. He pulled the codes: 02823 / Requirements for locking the steering column lock not met, 02861 Electronic Steering Column Lock check sum error, 02811 Control Module for Electronic Steering Column Lock J764, 05488 Engine Start Blocked by Immobilizer. All of this seems to jive with the steering column lock complaints others have had, thanks to (unnecessary?) electronic wizardry.

They also pulled 000801 Engine Speed Sensor. They advise replacing steering lock and convenience modules, and only then investigating the other code to avoid unnecessary work.

Since I've had the car for less than two weeks, I've forwarded it to the trade seller requesting their assistance in resolving the faults.

[DieselMonster]

The engine start blocked by immobiliser means that the immobiliser is stuck in its locked position and until it's unlocked, it will block the car from starting. Good luck with fixing it, hopefully it's not too hard of a fix. But you will have to advice whoever fixes it if they haven't faced this common b6 issue, where to start. I once changed all the computers in my car along with the key and car still didn't start, it's not the answer, a very radical and time consuming thing to do as computers are located all over the damn car.