Alarm problem?

I reconnected the radar module a couple of months ago and it has given no problem since I did so. I wondered why a previous owner had disconnected it. Last night it became active again. After three alarm events, I went downstairs in my toetectors ready to neuter some scroat pinching the cat. No scroat, no apparent disturbance so I disconnected the battery and left the car. This morning I reconnected and when I left the car again the alarm went off three minutes later. I have since disconnected the radar and so far, all is quiet. I  removed the passenger seat yesterday afternoon and I am wondering if  the empty space has affected the radar signature, causing it to become hyperactive. Has anybody else come across this? 

The interior alarm can be triggered by a cat sitting on the soft top.

If you lock the car with the key in the drivers lock rather than the fob, it deactivates the interior alarm, but the door alarm is active.

Having said that the interior alarm can become hyper-sensitive and drive you nuts...

I suppose you are speaking of microvawe sensor in the T-bar?
If so, I would question 2 things: do you have any mobile phone provider antenna nearby which starting interfering with your sensor; 
do you have neighbour with faulty microvawe owen.
Try parking your car other way round and see if you still have the problem.

Not a faulty microwave. Wrong times of day. Cats around here are too lazy to jump on the roof of anything. Not that either. Car parked garage side of residential area so the steel door of the garage will shield most microwave signals.  Has to be an internal effect as the alarm hasn't gone off again. I shall try reconnecting it once the seat has been replaced.

Clearly discussion of this topic is off limits as the thread disappears without trace. The radar module was not at fault. The alarm went off a couple of hours later. I stripped and cleaned up the driver's door lock and reassembled it, having worked the switches hard for a couple of minutes. I don't expect it to work but there was no evident malfunction on the self test.

Hi minimax sorry to hear you are not getting any reaction to your issue., I can offer some help from my experience  if you wish.
Incidentally I have never heard of a radar module causing intermittent alarm issue

Mike


 

I hate tempting fate but the locking system seems ok, the lock went back together with a minimum of fuss and it SEEMS to be ok so far. It might be a light sensitive problem - i'll find out after dark!

The alarm systems on these cars (in fact all cars in my experience) seem to be more trouble than they're worth.
About the only thing they're good for is draining the battery!
I asked my auto electrician mate about this on your behalf, and as I expected he said that: He'd yet to see a car alarm that actually works as it should for longer than the warranty period and often less than that!
Alas, without seeing the car, he couldn't say what the problem might be...... other than if you have no problems with the sensor disconnected then that's the best solution.
He said that even if you replace the sensor (providing you can source one) it may not fix the problem.

Or you can study the circuit diagram and measure the resistance from socket to sensor, operate each sensor and check the function and measure the supply voltage and earth connections.
Like a proper auto electrician would do.

The system has worked on my car and many others for over twenty years without any attention. Not many mechanisms or electronic assemblies can boast that. 

Stripping the door lock and working the three switches hard for a couple of minutes appears to have cured the problem, probably wiping a bit of tarnish from the contacts.

The thread disappearance is strange.  I definitely wrote a reply to your original thread, and I'm certain Roverlike also commented just after me.
I will investigate, but it was not something the admin has done afaik.

Anyway I said that cats on the soft top have been known to trigger the interior alarm and that locking with the key in the driver's lock disables the interior alarm but sets the door alarm.

Yes, I commented about leaking microwave owen or interference from mobile phone towers which both can influence operation of microwave sensor. Suggestion was to park car other way round in order to see if that might change something if microwave sensor was detected as problem.

Well, it didn't go off in the night and it has been quiet all day, so I am keeping my fingers crossed. It takes half an hour to get the lock out and ten minutes to strip it down. TAKE PHOTOS! once the two halves are carefully separated, the block of three switches  can be removed and each button worked hard for a couple of minutes. Reassemble, reconnect and test to ensure that the various levers go up and down as they should. this appears to have fixed the problem. I am looking into finding replacement switches as these are the bits that go wrong.