DIY: Alarm install

[old skool]

I know this has been covered before and I don't have much to add, however I figured I would throw this up there because I did it and I might have some better pictures.

The first thing you need to do is remove the glovebox. If you don't know how to do this, don't worry it is easy. It has been covered a ton and unless you ask for clarification I think I won't bother with pictures.

Glove box removal:
Remove two phillips head screws from inside the upper and outer corners of the air vents above the glove box.
Remove two screws on the outside edges of the glovebox right where the top of the door closes. Some cars have plastic covers over the screw heads and these must be removed first.
Remove two screws on the outer edges of the glovebox with the door open right where the door hinges. These are tough to get to unless you have a really short scew driver or a right angle screw driver.
The last two screws are on the outside of the glove box on the under side right as the dash ends and turns into the black cardboard piece that is at the top of the footwell. These two screws are longer so don't forget that later.
Then insert a small flat head screwdriver in the little notch in the side of the glovebox light towards the back. Gently pry it down and then slide the whole light backwards towards the front of the car to pull the arm out of the glovebox. Go ahead and disconnect the wiring harness.
Now, use a 10mm socket to unscrew the bolt that was hidden by the glove box light.
If you have a flashlight in the glovebox pull that out at well.
Now you need to push the little clips in on either side of the flashlight socket and push back towards the front of the car to release it from the glovebox.

Now just pull the glovebox forward towards the back of the car. It will just slide right out. Be careful of the wires that went to the light and the flashlight as they are clipped to the back of the glovebox and will need to be released before you completely remove the glovebox.

[old skool]

Once you have the glovebox removed, I would recommend also removing the piece that forms the top of the footwell. This is a very tight fit so you have to really coax it out. At the point closes to the front of the car and to the outside of the car, there is a plastic clip that is part of the kick panel. You will need to slide the cardboard piece towards the back of the car to release this. Be careful not to damage the smal plastic pieces of the speaker grille as you pull this part out. At the center of the car the cardboard piece slides under the center console, simply pull this down out of there to release some pressure on the part. Now the only remaining connection is two metal prongs at the back of the footwell at the middle. Pull the cardboard piece towards the back of the car to release this.
I almost forgot to mention the footwell light if you have it. To remove that simply press on the front of it and then pull down or use a flathead screwdriver. Disconnect the wiring harness as well or just slide the light through the hole and leave it hanging.

[old skool]

Now for the fun part:
Here is an alarm unit. There are different types. Some have glass break sensors, some do not. Some the antenna plugs in but for this one it is integrated.
If you open the unit up you can change the dipswitches to control the sensitivity. I set both mine to on for the most sensitive.

The green plug goes into the alarm. The black plug goes into the car and the other wire goes to the center console for the led. The small black single wire plug connects also under the dash presumably for power. There is also a white plug that I am not sure what it is used for. It doesn't connect in my car. It may be a connector for power for a different model car.

[old skool]

Behind the glovebox looks like this.
You want to connect the black plug as shown and the small single plug as shown.
The small single plug was coiled up and secured under the dash to another wire loom and had to be liberated before it could be stretched over to this location and connected.

[old skool]

This is how I routed the wires to keep them up and out of the way:
The plastic covered wires are the ones that go to the center console

[old skool]

This is where/how I located the main alarm control.
I used double sided tape and I used insulation to protect/cushion/wedge it in there.

[old skool]

This is how I routed the wire to the center console

[old skool]

Here it is behind the cubby hole/OBC.
If you need to know how to remove those please check my other DIY for removing the cubby.
One additional trick I learned was to stick a credit card between the top of the OBC and the center console to release the tension on the clips before putting your finger through the hole in the top of the cubby and pressing up on the spring clip on the bottom of the OBC and carefully walking it forward out of the dash.

[old skool]

Under the hood the siren connects as shown. There is a plastic wire holder that needs to be squeezed and pushed down and removed. There is a matching grey clip that is bundled up and tucked under the metal at this location. Free it and connect it to the siren. I went ahead and reused the plastic wire clip and bundled the wires up, snaped them in and attached the clip to another empty hole on the same metal part of the car.

[old skool]

The next step is to program the remotes. I would do this before you put the glovebox and dash back together just to be sure everything is working correctly.

Follow these instructions:

[old skool]

bump

[WildStorm]

All hail Old Skool, the DIY King!
Have a beer on me.
Oh and, free bump.

[krayon]

Nice DIY.

Is this how the stellar alarms are installed also?

[old skool]

Nice DIY.

Is this how the stellar alarms are installed also?

I am not familiar with stellar alarms. Sorry I can't help...

[martialartsblac]

Thank you so much. Ive been looking for a more detailed DIY online and here it pops up b4 me. Im doing an install in the next few days when my alarm gets here. I'm going to be doing a window tilt retro fit since the micro switch for that has been discontinued. Feed love back to the Bimmer community. Once again thank you

[zed///M]

can anyone help me im trying to program this 1 button fob for my e36 and i cant get my alarm to go into learning mode after i turn the key 5 times, im doing it right but no use ------> someone please help me!!!!!!!! i am so sick and tired of not having my alarm work..... 1994 318is

[Alpine 318is]

thats a very good DIY. wish i had this before i paid to have mine installed

[mrfoote]

Great DIY...
Will the learn mode work on all alarms. I beleive I have an aftermarket alarm.

Thanks in Advance..

[a32guy]

Good write up! I went cheap and put in a viper. (actually not done yet, haha)

[fredo328]

Hey Old Skool, mine looks like yours and it keeps going off by itself (so I unplugged the siren). I've read that its probably the glass break sensor set too high. Do you know how to adjust? I opened the box and saw two switches in there- are these the adjustments?

[old skool]

Hey Old Skool, mine looks like yours and it keeps going off by itself (so I unplugged the siren). I've read that its probably the glass break sensor set too high. Do you know how to adjust? I opened the box and saw two switches in there- are these the adjustments?

Mine doesn't have the glass break sensor. However, if the alarm goes off on its own and sometimes won't arm, it is likely a faulty sensor connection. I had issue with my hood detector. Once adjusted I didn't have any more problems with this. The sensitivity can be adjusted on the unit. I think I mentioned this but if not, then the other write up I used was done by Helrot325 and he does have pics of it. I think this is under the bimmer DIY site.

If none of this works you could always have it diagnosed by the dealer or a local BMW shop.

[Mr.M]

Great DIY. One question though: how do you know if the car is in "disarm" mode? I am following the procedure correctly, and am not hearing any chirp nor seeing any LED flash. I have module 82-111-467-756. I pulled the glovebox off, and checked if everything was plugged in. The black plug you thought was for power was not plugged in, so, with the module unplugged, I plugged in the "power" cord. Now I knew for sure everything was plugged in. I stuck the green plug back into the module, and the LED flashed. Then the doors locked. Then they double locked. I pulled the door handle and they would not open/unlock. I put the key in the ignition, tried again - nothing. I rolled down the windows, climbed out, and put the key in the keyhole from the outside. This unlocked all the doors. Now, my key works fine. Power locks/unlocked all 4 doors. However, I cannot program the key fob - the LED light just doesn't come on. When I followed steps 1-6 on the text file.

Thinking the fuse was blown, I disconncted the module from the green plug. When I plugged it back in the LED flashed, so I am assuming all is well there. I tried that program procedure several times again and no LED light, no horn chirp. Any ideas?

[paulstaf]

Well, I must say that I did this exact same install today without seeing any of this. I found an alarm/keyless entry module in a junkyard car and pulled it and the siren off. Paid $1 for it! My buddy needed keyless entry and didn't have it on his 1995. We installed this in there and then I programmed one of my extra remote's to his new unit. Works fine! It took me a couple of tries with the programming instructions to get it right.

I found that you need to turn the key on to 2 and off 5 times, then remove the key altogether. THEN the light will stay on, and you will hear the chirp.

Then follow the rest of the instructions.

I need to know how to turn the arm/disarm chirp noise on or off. His WAS chirping during arm/disarm, but we played around with it so much, it now isn't chirping. We assume we deprogrammed it since the alarm/panic still works fine. Any ideas?

Thanks,
Paul

[4Life]

To turn on or off the chirp, hold both buttons down at once for a few seconds.

[Mr.M]

I found that you need to turn the key on to 2 and off 5 times, then remove the key altogether. THEN the light will stay on, and you will hear the chirp.

Then follow the rest of the instructions.

God I wish I would have known that a month ago.