Zafira Alarm Problem - maybe the alarm sounder??

[Sexysamoyed]

One of my friends has a zafira with a faulty alarm.

From what I can gather it could be a fault the battery or with the sounder or siren.

I need to check with him whether he can hear any beeping when turning the ignition off as I believe this would indicate the sounder.

Is it located towards the rear of the drivers (os) or passengers (ns) wheel arch?

I know the internal batteries can be replaced (if they haven't leaked and wrecked the board) but I would like a bit of advice before having a go.

I believe it can be removed by leaving the ignition on as you disconnect it - if on removal it looks wrecked can the ignition simply be turned off and the car driven as usual without it?

If we decide to try and fit new batteries or get another unit at a later date, can we just turn the ignition on before connecting it back up and get it working again?

The last thing I want to do is immobilise the car and have it end up at the dealer.

Any advice appreciated.

edit. sorry this might need moving to Ice & Security as I seem to have posted in the wrong place.

[Big Col]

when you lock the car (one press of the button) is the led flashing rapidly?

if so then there is a fault with the alarm. You might want to get Vauxhall to read the fault code rather than just randomly guessing where the fault lies?

Although a faulty power sounder is a very common fault.

I'm assuming the Zafira setup is the same as the mk4 Astra

[Sexysamoyed]

I think they may already have had the car at a dealer but they couldn't find the fault ???

They are not aware of hearing any beeps when they turn off the ignition or lock the car up - so perhaps they just have a weak car battery?
Will need to check with them what the LED does when they lock it up.

But just wanted to know if they do decide to get the siren out whether the car will be ok without it so long as the ignition was turned on at the moment it gets disconnected.

[Paul]

Just rip it out.
Never bothered leaving ignition on, just chucked it in a bucket of water or last time set fire to the thing!

[Sexysamoyed]

Sorry to bring this up to the top and I know it's been a while but his alarm has now driven him to the point of asking me to actually try to fix the problem for him.

Been looking into it a bit more and again have a few questions...

Is the sounder located to the front of the wheel arch near the headlights or to the rear nearer the door?

If the horn and lights are going off as well as the sounder (rather than the sounder going off on it's own) would this indicate a problem elsewhere and not the batteries in the sounder?

I know he's gotten in the car and had the alarm go off when he stars the car and it continues for a while as he drives of but when this has happened I think it was just the sounder with no lights or horn.

There seems to be a difference of oppinion as to whether a new one needs coded to the car by a dealer - If the ignition is kept on will a new on connect and work OK or am I likely to visit a dealer.

Where exactly are the connectors for the rear glass break sensors? as I might try looping these out first as I believe these also cause a problem.

Thank for any help you can give.

[bunch21]

the sounder is under the drivers side wheel arch, make sure you have the ignition on when you unplug it or it will go off and they are damn loud when in your hand. Get the codes read with op-com or vaux-com as it will at least tell you which sensor is setting the alarm off. I understand that it's normally the rechargeable batteries in the sounder that cause problems.

[Sexysamoyed]

Well I've just been round and popped the wheel arch lining off - After removing the wheel you only have to remove the three plasic rivet things to rear of the lining and it pulls back more than enough to access the sounder, so no need to remove the entire lining.

Two torx screws removed the mounting bracket and the sounder was simply unplugged and uncliped from the bracket (with the ignition on of course)

As we were not replacing it I just put a plastic bag over the plug and taped it up and put everthing back together and everything seems fine.

I did cut it open out of curiosity and everything inside looked fine - the batteries hadn't leaked or anything but not worth the hassle of replacing them and risking it going off again.

[Paul]

Only took you since November - lol

[Sexysamoyed]

LOL ... I know but it wasn't my car.

I did give my friend the options way back then but they obviously weren't too concerned until recently when they were regularly waking up all thier neighbours at 4 in the morninglmao

But it's done now - sadly this isn't a problem unique to vauxhalls - I have the same problem with a volvo but the unit really needs to be replaced rather than just taken out and I'm into 3 figures for the part.