HELP ........... is my alarm bust????

[markizok]

Chaps

My battery was dead today as the Liz had not been used in 2 weeks or so. Anyway i jump started it and drove it for half an hour or so - it been fine but the alarm randomly went off a few minutes ago. Went to reset it and i got 1 long beep and all was fine.

Sat back down and it went off again so its currenty not activated. Any ideas if this could be related to the battery or is it something else - bloody typical (also annoyed as my cd player is bust - cant get my new cd out, apparently its not in there but i put it in!!)

[GTRene]

when you don't use your car for 2 weeks in this cold period and all the time its on alarm?? youre asking for a bit trouble, don't you have a garage? when you don't use it and its in the garage better do alarm out and front of radio and other small users of power! the batterie's are weak in winter period.

Also when the batterie has not anough power yet, the alarm can give a warning that the power is going out and for the alarm that could mean someone wants to steal your car...so it will go of when there's not much power, you have to charge the batterie to fully load...then normaly the alarm will work again( at least thats whats happens to me once long ago not in a Lotus)
Hope it works out for you too
GTRene

[markizok]

Cheers GT.

Its currently unarmed (slightly worried as i dont have a garage!).
Anyway, i think the best thing is for me to take it on a half day run in the country to give the battery a real good charge!!!!!

Thanks for the help as ever!

Mark

[GTRene]

No garage...even colder and worse to a batterie, hope you get it ok with a long run and low elektrik use!
Better still is to buy a good charger, they are not that expensive, I have one too for the, you never know use(and I have a garage and very glad with it) and last year I used it too(same thing as you but then mine was gona empty because of a leak in power! so, I put it on a charger for a few hours till no more power went in and perfect still...you even dont have to disconect the batterie when you do it(connect it) the right way!
Hope you can sleep tonight...good luck mate.
GTRene

[abz 7001]

Hi Mark

See you have an 02 also. Sorry to hear about our troubles. Any beeping normally suggests a contact point is not closed off I think. Have you ever tried to set the alarm with the door open, you get a series of beeps? Perhaps I should stop here and ask which model you have the Meta (button in key) or the Cobra (Separate keyfob)? As this may all sound foreign! I have the Meta - and not wanting to hijack the thread but am having trouble with mine. Battery ran flat in Tring the other week as the indicators were sticking "on" when the alarm was arming and missed it. Battery subsequently ran flat and my mate who is a mechanic turned up in his rather loud Impreza, fitted a new direct replacement (£40) and only charged me £30notes having been lifted from bed at 8.30am and dragged round the M25 about 4 junctions by a stranded Lotus driver, oh and an excuse for us both to sneak off for a quick blat to ensure everything was ticketyboo...and it was - he has an early model 300bhp and more torque, still couldnt put it through the sharp bends with the same momentum (by his own admission) and then is caught with slight turbo lag but soon sucking the rear clam through the huge bonnet scoops, and small children for that matter and livestock!!!! Alarm is still playing with the indicators so is also out in the cold unarmed Was a real hassle geting the indicators to turn off too! All a bit frustrating as have had 4 mechanically rouble free years. Its into Sinclaires at the weekend so will report back whe resolved. Any change with yours Mark? Anyone else had similar issues? Hijack over. Stuart

[markizok]

No. The alarm seems to be fine now but the car keeps cutting out on me at lows revs, for example when coming to traffic lights i stop, drop out of gear and the revs just drop off and the car stalls. Nothing traumatic, its starts again fine, it just dies on me.

Im hoping this can be resolved by me giving the battery a dam good charge - i have also have the solar powered trickle charger form Elise parts so i hope that stops it happening in the future!

Cheers
Mark

[GTRene]

markizok said:

No. The alarm seems to be fine now but the car keeps cutting out on me at lows revs, for example when coming to traffic lights i stop, drop out of gear and the revs just drop off and the car stalls. Nothing traumatic, its starts again fine, it just dies on me. Mark

when you can restart after the stalls the batterie power has to be ok, but I guess you have to reset your ecu? because of the battery problems you've had earlyer...reset can be easy done, disconect the complete power of your car by taking of or switching of one cable(earth if possible) of the battery, then wait a few minutes or longer if you have time, then connect again in one! move, when your lucky it has reset itself and the car runs "normal" again...(by the way, a max boost of charge is also welcome when driving short distance)
cheers
René

>> Edited by GTRene on Monday 13th February 14:18

[markizok]

Cheers GT

I have it booked into a garage tomorrow (i cant get the bloody thing out, i think the previous owner did something when changing it maybe) so ill mention the ECU reset tip.

That would make sense actually as when i jump started it the revs were jumping from 1k to 2k on their own without me touching the throttle - fingers crossed that removing the battery corrects it!

Cheers again