Security System goes off & blows fuse

[Ties]

I have been going through an enormous headache with my factory alarm. This is what happens, if I unlock the doors either with the remote or manually the alarm goes off and immediately blows the fuse for the horn which is also the fuse for the rear brake. If I turn the key in the driver's door a couple times the alarm goes off. I would like to simply disconnect the alarm. I looked at unplugging the hood switch but it was already unplugged and strangely I cannot find the wire to plug it back in. I took the car to the dealership and they wanted $1700 to fix it saying I need two new door regulators and new horns. This was alot of BS as they did not even notice the hood switch was missing wires.

Does someone know how I can get it so the alarm does not set. This car is always garaged and I am not concerned about theft, at least not $1700 worth of concern. Is there a way to trip the door switch so it does not set?

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[Larry Bastanza]

Hi Ties,

The alarm will not set if the system thinks any door, hatch, hood is open. I also recall that an "open" connection at any spot WILL NOT send a "Open" signal, but rather a "closed" signal, which is why even though your hood switch is not connected the alarm sets.

I would take a look at the hatch glass switch and measure the switch resistance and open and close the feeler and see the resutls on an ohm meter. If when the hatch is open, the switch is closed(I think this will be the case), simple close the switch with a jumper wire and see it the alarm will not set.

BTW, if a fuse is blowing you may simply have a bad alarm horn (shorted, water, etc.). You might try disconnecting the horn first and see if the fuse stays intact. If so you will have your choice of replacing the horn, or disabling the system.

Remember there is the on-line service manual here which has all the wiring diagrams in it.

BTW, The downside of disabling the system is your insurance might not like that if the car was ever stolen and they recovered it to find the alarm was disabled. Could be some liability on your part. Disclaimer, I am not an insurance person and really know nothing about those rules or your policy, just some dumb ass common sense.

HTH,
LarryB

 

[D'Ecosse]

The alarm will not set if the system thinks any door, hatch, hood is open. I also recall that an "open" connection at any spot WILL NOT send a "Open" signal, but rather a "closed" signal, which is why even though your hood switch is not connected the alarm sets.

This is correct - the switch not being connected will have no impact on the alarm operation (other than if you opened the hood when alarm armed, it would not alarm)

I would take a look at the hatch glass switch and measure the switch resistance and open and close the feeler and see the resutls on an ohm meter. If when the hatch is open, the switch is closed(I think this will be the case), simple close the switch with a jumper wire and see it the alarm will not set.

I'm confused by this advice Larry - why did you pick on the hatch switch as a possible suspect? Regardless, if there was a problem with this switch it should short when the hatch is "open" which is the fault condition - by same logic as the hood switch, simply unplugging it would eliminate a problem. If the switch was bad however, by your earlier comment, there would be a fault condition in that alarm would not set - also, the engine cover switch also feeds the safety indicator on the dash, so it would show "open" if the switch was faulty (shorted).
Or maybe as I read again, you're just suggesting to short out that feed to prevent the alarm from setting, rather than a source of the problem? Again it will constantly show as "open hatch" on the dash indicator if you do this.

BTW, if a fuse is blowing you may simply have a bad alarm horn (shorted, water, etc.). You might try disconnecting the horn first and see if the fuse stays intact. If so you will have your choice of replacing the horn, or disabling the system.

This one makes sense - fuse blowing I concur has little to do with the alarm itself but a problem with the alarm (3rd) horn being shorted.

As to the problem, I would suspect one of two things - either the connector in the driver's door (have you had your door panel off recently?) is causing intermittant feedback to disable the alarm - the other would be a bad alarm module itself. The fact that it will eventually disable after working the key several times, suggests that something is not quite stable.
I'd be inclined to start looking at the door connector.

 

[D'Ecosse]

Ties - I was searching for something else & came across this thread I'm surprised Larry didn't recall this since he contributed to that one!
It refers also to the anti-theft/keyless entry FAQ where you will find that a recommended "fix" to disable the alarm from setting, is to disconnect the hood switch. I suspect this is an old problem before you inherited the car!

So it seems like you have multiple problems associated here.
1) The primary problem that is causing the alarm not to disable is probably down to the door switch as covered in the Technical Service Bulletin in the FAQ
2) Your fuse blowing (probably the horn)
3) Why is you alarm setting with the hood switch disconnected? This one will need some further troubleshooting!

 

[Ether]

Ties - I was searching for something else & came across this thread I'm surprised Larry didn't recall this since he contributed to that one!

For reference, whenever I unlock my car, I do it from the passenger side with my key and simply walk around and get in from the drivers side. Unlocking the passenger side door unlocks both doors (atleast in my car) and will not set off the alarm. Also, if you do set off the alarm by accident, walk around to the passenger door and unlock it manually with your key, this should stop the alarm from going off (again, this is always true for my car). Easier than having to disable your alarm or mess with your hood switch in my opinion.

 

[Ties]

Thanks for all the help, I figured out how to solve the problem with some of the advice here.

I really apprecaite the help.