Another Alarm Problem

[Sprouty88]

Just installed a factory 3 button alpine alarm system in my 93 325i yesterday. plugged it in and everything worked fine...... after about 3 minutes of playing with it, the alarm horn stopped working. So I went and bought a new one today and just installed it.

It works..... but now when i unlock my car with the fob the flashers turn on and stay on until i press the 4 way button in and out.

It only does it with the new horn plugged in.

Any ideas? Could this be a ground issue? I am clueless

[flyfishvt]

Wow sure glad that's not the one I sold last week.

Did you buy an actual horn or an electronic siren? Big difference. Luckily if you bought a siren there is a button inside the control module you can switch from Horn to Siren.

I would also check the connection at the black harness connector. It goes in very hard and there isn't a ton of room back there to get a good grip on it.

check the sensitivity setting on the control module too. That should also be one of 4 buttons inside the control module.

The only other thing I can think of is that there is a black box attached to the harness (at least there should be) This is part of the "movement" feature that sets off the alarm if someone bumps into the car.

I doubt its the glass break sensor but you could always dissconnect that just to test it.

[MParallel]

Just installed a factory 3 button alpine alarm system..

flyfishvt (http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum/member.php?u=227902) is probably going nuts that I'm here again, but I'll keep on preaching untill people get this straight.

factory and alpine alarm are mutually exclusive terms. You either have the factory alarm, or, in case of a US spec car, you have a dealer installed/approved one, which in 99% of the cases, is the Alpine alarm.

The factory alarm is a totally different system altogether.

[flyfishvt]

"MP" I have given up on that battle. Life is too short and I love your seeing pics of your car too much to carry on a useless battle of words.

In other words.....Ive grown...thank you for the opportunity to improve myself.

[MParallel]

"MP" I have given up on that battle. Life is too short and I love your seeing pics of your car too much to carry on a useless battle of words.

In other words.....Ive grown...thank you for the opportunity to improve myself.

You made the right choice.

[Sprouty88]

I just went to pep boys and picked up another horn that looked exactally like the factory horn.

i'll have to take the glovebox back out and check everything again. And maybe change some of the settings.

I'm just confused as to why it only does it when I unlock the car because the alarm is deactivated then.

are any of the relays in the system known to go bad?

[Sprouty88]

Mparallel I don't think anyone really cares if the technical term is 'dealer installed'. I said factory 3 button alarm and everyone knew what I was talking about. Yes it's an Alpine system, but it says bmw right on the box, bmw on the fob, it's got a bmw part number, it comes up on realoem as a oem available part, and it was an option to be installed when you purchased the car. To me that means factory.

That's like saying the Ecm is dealer installed not factory because it's Bosch....

[flyfishvt]

I just went to pep boys and picked up another horn that looked exactally like the factory horn.

i'll have to take the glovebox back out and check everything again. And maybe change some of the settings.

I'm just confused as to why it only does it when I unlock the car because the alarm is deactivated then.

are any of the relays in the system known to go bad?

One other thing you could check is the hood micro switch. Its located half way down the passenger fender. It usually only causes problems when the alarm is armed but you never know.

My suspision is that its not disarming itself properly when you hit the top button to unlock the car.

That three button remote has a "lock/unlock" button and an "arm" button. the arm button should turn on the LED. Unless you press the "arm" button when its locked the alarm should be inactive and the LED should be off. the "arm" button does nothing unless the car is locked. As soon as you press the "arm" button you should hear the door locks activate for just a second, at least they did on mine, then the LED comes on.

Is your LED turning off when you press unlock?

[Sprouty88]

yea, everything works like it should, except the flashers coming on when I hit the unlock button.

so for now, I just have the horn unplugged.

Those factory horns aren't 'special' in any way are they? Having a certain amount of resistance or any kind of loop back circuit?

because the couple minutes that the factory horn worked, I had no issues.

[flyfishvt]

No they aren't special. They are the same as the horns for the steering wheel. I don't remember an option for the lights to flash when you lock it. It didn't do it on mine but maybe one of those buttons inside controls that feature. I have the later version of Alpine alarm now. It has a 2 button fob and none of those buttons in the control module and it doesn't work with a horn. Only a siren. My lights don't flash when I lock it but locking it arms the alarm at the same time ( a feature I like alot instead of the three button fob).

Is it possible someone had an after market alarm in there before you installed this one?

[MParallel]

Mparallel I don't think anyone really cares if the technical term is 'dealer installed'. I said factory 3 button alarm and everyone knew what I was talking about. Yes it's an Alpine system, but it says bmw right on the box, bmw on the fob, it's got a bmw part number, it comes up on realoem as a oem available part, and it was an option to be installed when you purchased the car. To me that means factory.

That's like saying the Ecm is dealer installed not factory because it's Bosch....

Whether people car I can't say for all 1000 of members. The whole point, as you say as well, is so that people know what we are talking about. You can even call it "dhaweuidhsa" as long as we all agree on what it represents.

Now with the tons of Euro people on here and people who got offered this system, if you talk about a factory fitted alarm, then we are NOT talking about the same system.

And it's all so simple. You can just say "Alpine" alarm, or Toad or 3G, or whatever brand. And if you say factory alarm, you are talking about the integrated system, with no alarm module, different key, siren etc.

It does matter. If you say "my factory alarm keyfob..." this is something very different from saying my Alpine fob. It's a 100% different part.

I find your other statement short sighted. Because it says BMW, has a BMW part number and comes up at real OEM, then it's factory?

I thought factory is pretty much self explanatory. A factory, the plant where the car was assembled.
What you state, that goes for every single part I order at the dealer. Order at the dealer! How does that make for a factory fitted part?

The factory alarm designation only applies to a single alarm system that BMW offered, which is option 302. This alarm was built into the cars wiring and was only offered as a factory fitted option.

Factory means it was installed, at the factory, when the car was on the assembly line.

This is just simple facts anyone can (well should) be able to decipher. This is not something I make up.

[Sprouty88]

If Flyfishvt couldn't shut you down I don't think I would be able to either MP. I admire your passion.

[Sprouty88]

And I'm pretty sure there was never an aftermarket alarm installed. The car was untouched and daily driven by an older guy when I bought it. I jus hope I don't have to take it to the dealer......

[MParallel]

And I'm pretty sure there was never an aftermarket alarm installed. The car was untouched and daily driven by an older guy when I bought it. I jus hope I don't have to take it to the dealer......

What applies to factory fitted, also applies to aftermarket.

An aftermarket alarm is different from a dealer approved/installed one.

;)