Car Alarm problem :S

[nath]

Hiya, another reason to have a car forum here -

I've got a problem with my P reg Mondeo 1.8LX, the alarm seems to go off almost always a few minutes after I've finished driving it a bit. I can't not activate it, regardless of how I lock it up it's always active and it's doing my head in.

When it's going off, I'll go and unlock it which stops it, lock it up again and walk away. 3 minutes later it's going off again. Rarely goes off more than that though. It happened just now and I got in to move it in to the driveway and (while I was driving) the alarm started blipping on and off intermittently. It's not got a siren, it's just the car horn and hazards - so they were blipping on and off every couple of seconds for half a second. Felt like it was a loose contact or something.

Anyway, does anyone know what this could be or any sites that may have some handy info? I'd rather not spend money at some garage.

Cheers

 

[old.user4556]

My ex-Ford Fiesta had a wonky alarm too, did my fucking head in, got rid of it - that was my solution .

Seriously though, is it a "turn anti-clockwise, turn clockwise" to arm/lock? Or does it just activate automatically on simple locking? Ford's are notorious (i've had two of them) for dodgy microswitches in the door handles/mechanisms which will undoubtedly be linked to the alarm somehow (to indicate a door open) - these can fail or go faulty which makes the alarm have a shit fit.

I had the following faults with my door handles:

1) jammed a microswitch, so when then alarm was active it would just go off as it thought the door was open
2) in the very cold, the car thinks the door is open so it wouldn't let me arm the alarm and when it did arm, it just went off anyway
3) the lock on one side was wonky, so when i locked the car it just unlocked itself, which then played havoc with the alarm

Oh the pain .

Unless you're good with electronics nath, you're gonna have to get it to a spark and/or garage. My dad is good with electronics and he managed to use the Haynes manual to trace through the wiring on his old car to fix his alarm. Try referring to the fuse list on the Haynes manual and see if there is a fuse you can remove to disable the alarm system or override it (very much doubt it, but my Fiesta's honker could be disabled this way).

Have you changed the battery in your keyfob recently (if it's remote lock/alarm)?

 

[nath]

Nah, it's recently died though. However it's been like this for ages and I have the same problem regardless of whether I lock it with the fob or the key. My dad knows electronics but I doubt he'll want to trace wires in my car. I guess I'll have to take it in :\
Cheers for the help though.

 

[Tom]

Don't take it to a Ford garage. Take it to a car audio/security shop, and have them do it instead. They'll do a better job for less money.

 

[nath]

I did think an official ford garage would rip me off something rotten - dunno where to find a audio/security shop that won't do the same though.

 

[Tom]

http://www.talkaudio.co.uk/vbb/index.php?

Try asking in there, lots of people with 30KW ICE systems etc who know whats what.