Volkswagen Golf III anti-theft alarm

Hello People:

Good news.. My car is back to normal now.. She does not scream anymore.. Yup.. She just needed 2 hours of my personal attention and is fine as always.. :)

I found that there is very little information available online to fix these problems and I am going to post my experience here so that it is useful for others who experience the same problem.

Looks like the anti-theft alarm, centralized locking, and the water drain system are always an issue for Volkswagen automobiles. My car is a 1995 model, volkswagen golf, with centralized locking and anti-theft alarm. The alarm is engaged when you lock the car and turn the key twice (your centralized lock should also engage with this). The alarm goes on everytime you open the car without using the key. To open all the doors you just turn the key twice. In my case both of this was not working and the alarm would engage if I try to open the door (even though the door opens). It makes loud, annoying noise and also stalls your engine. Hence, you cannot start the car. However, the annoying sound will go off in 1 minute, just to save the battery. The engine stall remains active and the alarm will fire again for 1 minute if you try to start the car or open the doors again.

The alarm control unit is located under the steering on the left hand side corner (near the air ventilation system). This gets input from all the doors, trunk, and the automatic opening circuit. It controls the ignition and the alarm horn. There are mechanically operated switches in the driver and passenger side front doors that will disable the alarm when you open the cars using the key.

Before doing anything, open your hood and disconnect the battery negative (the black wire). This will shut off all the power. [Note that your radio will be reset and you need a code to unlock it when you power the vehicle back. You can find how to unlock this in your manual. If you do not know your code, you can get it from your dealer.]

There are several potential causes for the failure. The important ones being:
1) The door switche (due to wear-and-tear) failure
2) The centralized lock / unlock unit (its poor location and susceptabilty for water flooding)

If you drains are clogged or the vapor seal is broken, the centralized lock / unlock unit in the trunk might get water in it when it rains. If the water enters the circuit board, it is a disaster. This indeed was the problem in my case and I found it as I was checking it. You can disconnect this module for testing the swtiches.

To diagnise the source of this problem, you also need access to the alarm control module. However, the access to this module extremely complicated in this model of the car. I was totally annoyed. Basically, if you remove the bottom trim under the driver seat, you will be astonished to see a hard metallic casing covering all the circuits. There are beams running across and the several control modules are mounted in the beam. This particular alarm control module is buried deep inside this metallis mess. Ideally, if you want to reach this in a clean way, you need to remove the steering, front air bags (gotta be careful with this as you can potentially blow this on your face while opening), and then the metallic cover. If you go to a service center, they might probably do this. However, I did not follow this as it is very time consuming and very tedious. First get a clear view of the alarm control module. It is located on the left side of the car behind the metallic bars (Hint: There is a opening on the door where all the wires are routed from outside. The module is about 6-7 inches above that almost near that).

The module have two connectors connected to it and this will be helpful in locating the module. A 10 pin connector and a 6 pin connector. All the inputs from the door goes to the 10 pin connector. If you have a small hand, you will be able to reach up to the connector and disconnect it without removing the metallic cover. Once you have the connectors unplugged, you should be able to verify if your mechanical switches are functioning using a multimeter and the circuit diagram (available from the service manual).

Good Luck!!!!!

PS: I am just posting my half-baked post due to lack of time.

The silent night and the screaming buddy

Hello People:

It has been a really long time since I had posted. I guess many of you might have started thinking that I update my blog only once a year (for Diwali). I have been thinking about lots of interesting topics (interesting to me if not for others) to post, but never had a chance to bring them out in words. I finally decided to finish my long pending post this weekend. But, for the elements ....

Okay.. Enough digressions and lets get back to business. Let me introduce you all to my best buddy since 2003.. my man.. my right hand.. my friend.. my everything.. life changed a lot since I met her.. it became interesting, thrilling, entertaining, & educating, ... we go out every day, every night, rain or shine.. dark or bright.. any time.. any time I please ..we have spent hours and hours together.. travelled miles and miles together.. to beaches.. to mountains.. scenic drives.. chilly snow.. bumby hails.. and what not.. She sings very well.. in fact she sings all the time.. i am so attached to her that I can't live without her.. but, the elements...

This saturday night, I was working late.. yup really late 1 am.. I was hungry.. can't wait to meet her and go out to get some food.. yup she has never refused to my calls.. till that night.. never.. 3 am, 5 am, any time, .. she would just go with me whereever I please.. but, she started screaming at me.. loud.. i mean really loud.. she would never stop.. I tried my usual tricks to passify her.. may be I hurt her?? may be she is just not happy?? thoughts running through my mind.. I tried again.. yes screaming.. the same wild screaming.. she would never stop.. i go round and round.. she would never stop..

I went back to my office.. checked on the Internet.. how to stop the screaming?? how to disable her loud scream?? I really wanted to go and eat.. I came back to her.. tired & hungry.. come on lets go.. again.. screaming.. the same wild screaming.. what is wrong with her today?? is it the rain that poured a little bit in this dry southern californian desert?? is it because it is a saturday night and I working late at the office?? all I hear is screaming.. she would stop exactly after 1 minute.. If I ask to her to come with me to eat, she would start screaming..

Then I decided.. I had to do this.. I made up my mind.. I had to do this.. I can't bear the screaming any more.. I gotta stop this.. I did the cruel thing.. yes I did.. my selfishness made me do that..

you should be wondering what did I do??? okay let me be honest..

I pulled the plug.. yes I pulled it.. strange silence filled the air.. I felt cold, eerrie wind blowing across my chins.. the silence was different.. thoughts racing in my mind... I have to fix her.. I have to do it quick and then go and eat.. it is very cold and there was no lights.. I was hungry, cold, alone,.. I went back to my office and brought an emergency light / generator.. and started working on her.. the light was not enough.. but I didn't give up.. I worked on her.. this is my first time.. I disassembled her as suggested in the text books.. as you know text books are always wrong.. after 3 hours of hard work, I figured that I disassembled the wrong section.. the module that I was looking for is not present.. Now I was hungry, tired, angry, & cold.. the module I was looking for is well protected.. hard to reach.. there is no light and have to work using the senses of touch.. I tried.. tried hard to find that it is under a heavy metallic protection..

it was almost 6:30 AM now.. I finally made the call.. left her on the road.. called a cab and went back home.. she is still standing in the same place, waiting to be fixed.. I didnt' get time today to console her and bring her back to life..

Okay people:

Enough suspence... I am assumming you are not just reading the end... If you are then STOP right here and READ the post from the beginning.. for the nice souls, who read all the way from the top, you must be wondering who she is.. She is my Car.. my lovely little car.. The anit-theft alarm in my car broke and it would never go off.. damn it is loud and totally annoying.. also your engine gets stalled and you cannot start and drive your car when this happens.. I opened the hood and pulled the battery negative.. tried to fix it.. i just needed to to locate the control module to disable the alarm.. now go back and read the post again.. it should all make sense hopefully.. on a side note, you just don't realize how much you are attached to your car until you miss it.. now I have got a bike (healthy choice) for filling the needs until I fix my car.. I want to fix it myself just for the satisfaction.. hopefully I will work on her tomorrow during the day light and get her back to life.. :-) I love my car.. however old she is..

Cheers-

Disclaimer: I haven't had a chance to proof read this and posting it AS IS.. so bear with me if the language is little rough..

Acknowledgements: Thanks to Karthik B.S and KK for persuading me to put a new post.. the elements behind this post..