1995 VW Jetta Factory Alarm Problems

Check the wiring harnesses in the door jams first. Look for cracked or broken wires!

Particularly the rear doors, there in the hinge area. Pull the boot off the connector at the pillar and look for wires that are either broken, stretched or kinked. Sometimes you can only tell by feel. A little extra length from repairing the bad wires with crimp on butt connectors seemed to help mine. Replacing the harness just means you hit the reset button on that harness. You'll have to fix it too, probably fairly quickly.

Don't solder the wires unless you're an expert. You'll just make things worse. Trust me on this one.

One of these days I'll publish the "How To" on this on my page. I'll have an opportunity soon, mines doing the same thing again.

Mark '95 Jetta GLS

Thanks Mark and Woodchuck for your time and suggestions. I'll be attempting to fix it this weekend.

Since I don't have a Bentley or Haynes do you know of any sites that detail how to take the front and rear door panels off without permanent screw driver damage?

I did some searching on Google Groups and found that about 100,000 other people have the exact same problem. I'll take that as a fundamental design flaw when it affects this many people.

-M

It's not a good sign when the dealer stocks a wiring harness...

Heck, just get the book. Prolly even a Haynes or something would show you how to get the panel off with minimal drama. Or hit the library?

Mark '95 Jetta GLS

I have a 95 GTI which must be fairly similar alarm-wise. The doors have microswitches on the lock mechanism that arm and disarm the alarm. I know about this because I installed an aftermarket door remote keyfob thing that tapped into 2 wires that the 2 microswitches connect to ground when you turn the key one way or the other (I also saw the switches when I replaced the drivers door latch when it broke). The aftermarket door remote has mechanical relays "in parallel" with the original microswitches in the door lock, so either the door lock microswitches or the door remote relays can ground the wire and thus arm or disarm the alarm. (On the remote you actually had to press the open button twice to unlock the car, but all the locks. The first press only disarms the alarm, while the second press unlocks the whole car. With the key, the first "unlock turn" disarms the alarm _and_ unlocks the driver's door and the second "unlock turn" unlocks the rest of the car. Both the remote and key are grounding the same wire, so I don't know why the difference with not unlocking or unlocking the drivers door the first time you ground the wire.)

Maybe this info would help to narrow down what to look at.

Frank

I have a 95 GTI that must have similar alarm wiring.

There are two wires in the drivers and passenger door harnesses that two microswitches on the lock mechanism ground to arm or disarm the alarm (when you turn the key to lock or turn to unlock).

Seems like something must be affecting the alarm arming wire or the switch.

Frank

I have 2 '95 Jettas and one had the same problem. It was a combination of 2 bad door switches and a faulty alarm module. Module is an order item from dealer, ran about a buck-seventy (170.00). Man its worth it when every time you open the door to get in the damn alarm starts going off! I liked it best when it went off at night in my driveway or when I picked someone up... I would definitely start with the door switches and the trunk switch if you have one.

XXninjatooXX - Man, every time I Farfegnugen it costs me a couple hundred bucks... Can't help but love my VeeDubs:

1995 Jetta III GL 2.0L 5sp, White, modified suspension and chipped. 1995 Jetta III GLS 2.0L 5sp, Black, Rebuild with modified GTI front-end.