missile2511

I have a 1984 with an electrical system that has been worked over very poorly by the PO. I never had an operable alarm until I removed the door panels to rework them. After reinstallation of the driver side panel the alarm came to life. My auto door locks do not work, and I was wondering if the alarm expects both doors to be unlocked when you unlock the drivers door and that is why the reborn alarm sounds when I unlock the drivers door, but not the passenger door.
Joe

The Forgotten On

Did you use the long black key or the short red one? The black one controls the alarm system. The spring inside of the door lock tumbler could be bad.

Try unlocking the passenger side door with the black key, that should disarm it, in the fact that it is the less used door, and should still have a good door lock security mechanism.

Alan

Yes the alarm expects both doors to be doing the same thing, it alerts due to the door lock status - not wether the doors are actually opened. So if you lock/arm from one door and after a short delay the alarm does not see both doors locked it will (depending on year) either alert OR lock/arm with one door temporarily disabled (until it becomes locked again), and in this case will signal an incomplete arming with the fast flashing of the LED posts (this feature only works on alarms equipped like that).

Obviously on an '84 you have the simpler alarm.

However it will do this only on arming (=locking) - not on disarming (=unlocking). I think your connection to the alarm switch are reversed or the switch is physically in backwards.

Alan

missile2511

Thanks for the help. So, the car came with just one black key. Am I reading you correctly, that if I unlock with the black key and always lock using the inside locking pin, that I should not activate the alarm at all? If so, problem solved until I can repair the auto door locks.
Joe

joejoe

Missile, there are 2 different length keys. Non alarm key is approx. 1 3/4", alarmed key is about 2 1/4"long. The extra length turns the switch part for the alarm. Short key will not work the alarms. The head of the key (short) is originally red, but if a key has been made it will have a black head. Alarmed key (long) is always black.

Alan

Yes but to do that on both doors you'd need to leave a window open (or climb out of the hatch)....?

What you described - unlocking/disarming causing an alarm alert should only happen if:

A. Your car'ds alarm is always armed and all you have is the short key (in this case the car wouldn't operate)
B. The door you are unlocking doesn't have a functional alarm switch to do the disarming (you'd maybe be able to disarm from the other side)
C. Your alarm switch is arming when it should be disarming (in this case unless you can disarm from the other side the car also won't operate)

You need to figure out which of these it is...

Alan

Wisconsin Joe

I really hate to question Alan, he's one of the top brains here when it comes to electrical stuff.
But I think he's wrong here.
I have an 85 with the "simple" alarm. I'm pretty sure it has no sense of doors being locked or unlocked.

There are alarm switches in both doors and the hatch lock. I can arm (or disarm) the alarm from the hatch. I can arm the alarm from the hatch with the doors unlocked and activate the alarm by opening the (unlocked) door.

It's possible that the alarm switch in your driver's side lock cylinder isn't working right. It may be that it is arming the alarm, but not disarming it. A broken wire in the alarm harness would create the same problem.

Taking the lock cylinder out and disassembling it is not too difficult.

Thread on it here:
https://rennlist.com/forums/928/7403...ne-strutt.html