Error message: "Control unit incorrectly coded"

Hello everyone,

Yesterday, I experienced my first "breakdown" on the highway with my A4 - AFN (year 1996). The engine suddenly started to shut off while I was driving. After a few minutes, I managed to fix the problem – by giving the electrical box a firm whack. After that, I heard a relay click (which, I later found out, was the relay for the diesel injection system), and the engine started again.

I've experienced similar issues before, but they usually resolved within 1 second. Back then, the forum suspected that the relay 109 or something similar might be the cause. After disassembling all the parts in the electrical box, the fault no longer appeared, and I thought I had fixed the problem (the loose connections).

Back at home, I did some more research and discovered that MSG was sensitive to impacts. With a gentle tap on the casing, the motor seemed to "swallow" itself.

After carefully inspecting the circuit board, I found and fixed the cold solder joints. Some of the pins on the EEPROM socket had been soldered with a "hot" needle, which caused intermittent contact. Thank you in retrospect to my tuner!!

The engine is running perfectly again. However, I have the following problem:

The indicator light, which usually illuminates, starts blinking approximately 10 seconds after the engine starts. VAG-Com is displaying the following error:

1 DTCs Found.
01044 - Control module incorrectly coded.
35-10--- Intermittent

So, MSG is incorrectly encoded, right? Despite that, the engine is working perfectly!
It's unlikely to be the immobilizer, as it should shut off the engine after a few seconds.
Where can I get the correct code again? And where do I need to enter it? There's a "Coding" menu in VAG-Com with two five-digit numbers. The combination instrument also has this menu.

Can anyone help me with this?

Regards,
Ernst.

Hello Ernst,
The error description suggests a problem with relay 109 (-> use the search function).
The mentioned coding applies to your automatic transmission control unit (00001) or...
Manual transmission (00002) and is configured via the 'Coding' function (07).
carried out.

Best regards, Rudi.

Hello Rudi,

The fault was clearly due to the cold solder joint on the control unit's circuit board. During my inspection, I slightly bent the circuit board at that location, and I then heard the diesel injection relay click. This relay is activated by the control unit (approximately pin 34 of the control unit connector).

I performed the encoding (00002), and lo and behold: there are no more errors.

However, I believe that a different code was displayed before (before the complete system failure on the highway). I can't say for sure anymore because I didn't note it down earlier.

Does it matter, since the workshop code has also changed?

Best regards and thanks again.

Ernst.

Hello Ernst,
The workshop code is for informational purposes only.
'With the correct VAG testers and licensed tools (Glindemann, RAC).'
is (was ) the workshop code registered, and it could be determined that...
Which workshop performed the last software update/coding.
In the 'vagcom.cfg' file, there is a line that says:
WSC=

Here, you can enter any five-digit number (in my case, it was...).
im Original 01269).

Best regards, Rudi.

Okay.

I hope that the soldering work on the control unit will be my last "open-heart" operation for now. Why the code was lost is something that gives me pause .

Best regards, Ernst.