Hi,

I know there are a few people on here that are very knowledgeable on this subject, I didn't want to bump an old thread from over a year ago so I thought I'd start this one.

I have a 2010 Passat 2.0tdi, just started getting the steering column lock defective message pop up occasionally on starting up the car (4 times in about 15-20 times trying) the engine cuts out about a second after, when I've taken the key out and tried again it normally starts up and runs are usual.

After a bit of research online I've found that this might be a common problem on his model of Passat and that in the U.S it's a recall, and that in the UK it's been deemed a discountable £350ish repair....... UK Volkswagen customer service and my local dealer have never heard of this at all and want £155 for diagnostics and then I assume about £1000 to fix it.

Ive found a local garage that can fit a new steering column and all the bits needed to fix the fault for £600, but that really is a last resort.

I bought a fault code finder and tried it out last night, but I didn't realise that it only scans engine/abs/transmission and something else, it's a pretty basic one. What would be the easiest (read cheapest) way to get all the fault codes for anything relating to this problem? (I've heard that it's common for the immobiliser system to be involved with this problem)

I read that trying a different key may solve the problem, I'm going to start trying this as of today.

Thanks in advance for any replies