Aftermarket alarm makes me want to cry

[milburn7191]

Fellow PistonHeads I need your help before I do something silly!

I have recently bought a BMW e30 as a long term project, something I've wanted for years and I am finally in a position to do it...happy days!
Well it was happy days until the sh**y aftermarket alarm that is on it started playing up.

There was an incident where I found myself breaking into my own car because the alarm had locked the doors due to a loose wire, I was outside the car and the key was in the ignition...cue the screwdriver and the metal coat hanger. No matter I got into it and have learned my lesson to not leave the only key I have in the ignition.

Now every time I do anything with the car the alarm goes off, and the engine wont start...its so frustrating.
I have tried disconnecting the battery, locking and unlocking, putting the immobilizer plug in...and all combinations of the above but no matter what I try it just wont behave.

There is no branding on the alarm box but below are some pictures.
The immobilizer plug is also shown and this has a 'MSI' logo on it.
I am guessing that the round key hole would be an on/off, but I do not have this key

Please help
and please be more constructive than "just remove it"

[Momentofmadness]

Can you get a mobile auto electrician to come and see it?

If your patient, you should be able to remove it yourself - just trace the wires, some of the cars loom will have been cut and then the alarm wired in series... just take your time and mark wires as you go

[TooMany2cvs]

milburn7191 said:

and please be more constructive than "just remove it"

You know there's really only one sensible answer, don't you? And that is it.

It's got a 25yo+ aftermarket alarm on it. You don't have the master key to that alarm, even if the lock hasn't seized solid. Gawd knows what state the wiring additions for that alarm are in.

Bin it.

[milburn7191]

Momentofmadness said:

Can you get a mobile auto electrician to come and see it?

If your patient, you should be able to remove it yourself - just trace the wires, some of the cars loom will have been cut and then the alarm wired in series... just take your time and mark wires as you go

That is my plan eventually but I know that this will probably take a full day, so I was hoping someone would know a trick to resetting the alarm.

I am also quite worried about when I do eventually remove it as I did not fit it and I have no paperwork so I have no idea what is wired into where, or how it should be as standard from the factory

[TooMany2cvs]

milburn7191 said:

That is my plan eventually but I know that this will probably take a full day, so I was hoping someone would know a trick to resetting the alarm.

Wouldn't be much cop as an alarm if it was that easy to bypass, would it?

milburn7191 said:

I am also quite worried about when I do eventually remove it as I did not fit it and I have no paperwork so I have no idea what is wired into where, or how it should be as standard from the factory

Aftermarket alarms were at the height of their popularity back in that era. Every bugger and their dog were fitting them, whether they had a clue or not. So... all bets are off anyway.

[Fattyfat]

TooMany2cvs said:

You know there's really only one sensible answer, don't you? And that is it.

It's got a 25yo+ aftermarket alarm on it. You don't have the master key to that alarm, even if the lock hasn't seized solid. Gawd knows what state the wiring additions for that alarm are in.

Bin it.

This really is the only answer. You could have a autospark replace it for a new system. I had a Toad AI606 alarm years ago and it was pretty decent, think its still available. Half the trick is in the quality of installation.

[BigLion]

Cut the red wire...


...no hang on, cut the blue wire

[Crosswise]

I wouldn't waste time trying to fix it, it's just not worth the effort. Remove it and replace it with something decent, if you're confident enough to wire it up yourself you can take your time and do a really neat job. I've removed a couple of professionally installed alarms in the past and I've not been impressed with the quality of the work, the only positive is they were easy to remove as there was little effort made to hide the immobilised circuits.

[milburn7191]

Crosswise said:

I've removed a couple of professionally installed alarms in the past and I've not been impressed with the quality of the work, the only positive is they were easy to remove as there was little effort made to hide the immobilised circuits.

Quick run down of what's wired in.
Starter motor...fuel pump...?

Also is it a case of literally removing the two wires that goes from the fuse box to the alarm and the alarm to the part (starter motor), and replacing them with a direct wire?

I am very competent, just have zero experience with alarms and immobilizers

[sidgolf]

on these cars a lot of the time it's the green wire running from ign. switch to coil that is interrupted.

[Crosswise]

It would depend on the immobiliser, the vehicle and the installer as to which circuits are used. I just started by removing all the easy things first like the power, earth, wiring to the central locking, door switches etc. When I was left with the immobilised circuits I followed the wires to find where it had been installed. How easy it is to remove depends a lot on how well disguised it is, but really it's just a case of reconnecting the original wiring where it had been interrupted. You should expect the immobiliser to be installed on two separate circuits, but it would depend on the model.

[steveo3002]

the only answer is to remove it all

drop the lower dash panels down and the console and spend a day tracing the wires and sorting all the mess out , or pay a man to do so

[Z3MCJez]

I had that exact alarm on a K-reg Fiesta (long since retired). The wiring on mine was to to the ignition barrel and wasn't very good. How do I know that? Because it started to play up. I would follow the advice above and ditch it.

Jez

[Mound Dawg]

There was one fitted to my Alfa when I got it. I didn't have the fob so never used it. Then one day five years into my ownership it burst into life and immobilized the car. Managed to bypass it (some immobiliser huh?) and when I got home I ripped the whole thing out.

Same thing happened to my pals Merc 124 estate on a Sunday in Ludwigshafen when we had a ferry to catch. We managed to hot wire it with a wire from the air con switch under the bonnet to the fuel pump but the lost time meant some serious leptons being achieved on the journey to Calais.

Just pull it. But make sure you get it all!

[steve2]

We had that exact same alarm on our Toyota Rav 4 MK1 and that also kept playing up so we got an auto electrician to come and remove it, cost about £70 if I remember correctly.

[milburn7191]

Update: After removing the two end wires the alarm is now working perfectly. I will remove it when I get chance but this does at least allow me to start the car so I can easily move it around.