1997 Cabrio- reset alarm?

Ohh baby, am I in trouble, now.

My wife just bought a 97 Cabrio. It's her new baby. I was entrusted to go pick it up from the dealer and they said they weren't able to get it to program so she could have the keyless entry she had asked for.

So I pull out the Bentley & Haynes manuals and have *some* idea of how the central locking system works.

Start with testing it- per the directions in the Bently manual. I roll down the windows, lock the drivers door and the little light starts blinking.

I pull up the lock button and nothing happens. It stays up. [but the light stays on] I re-lock the door and pull on the handle. The alarm sounds. I lock the door, unlock it. . . and all is well.

Then I go to the passenger side. I pull up the lock button and it stays up. Then I pull on the door handle, the alarm sounds.. . and nothing short of disconnecting the battery has been able to silence it.

I've tried locking/unlocking the drivers door, the passenger door, and using the dash lock. I tried locking the passenger door and unlucking the drivers door twice. [Bentley says this is how you unlock the pass. door from driver's side]

I know the central locking system is not 100% as I found a disconnected and plugged vacuum hose in the trunk lid. [the plugin to the actuator was broken & someone plugged the end of the hose] It looks like the hose that goes from the trunk actuator to the passenger door.

I'll go back to Bentley and Haynes-- but if anyone can point me in the right direction here, I'd apreciate it.

Thanks- Jim

Reply to
Jim Elbrecht
Loading thread data ...

The way that the Volkswagen central locking system works is that each door including the hatch and the hood have a switch that is either open or closed. Each of the doors including the hatch and gas cap have a pneumatic actuator that is responsible for locking and unlocking the car. When you lock the drivers door or press lock on your key fob, the computer checks to see if your doors are all shut. If they are shut then it will arm the system and lock all the doors. The LED will blink twice a second I think for 30 seconds and then slow down to once a second after that. This indicates everything works well. If one of your doors is not closed or there is a faulty switch the computer will still lock all the doors when you lock the drivers door however it will not arm the system per se. The LED on the door will flash rapidly and continuously. This indicates there is a problem. The locking pump should only run for a few seconds if all is well, however if there is a leak than the pump can run up to 30 seconds and after that it will cut out if the switch still works. It kind of sounds as though you computer is doing some weird things. Check to make sure all the switches for the doors work and that they are in fact locking. If the door hardware is all in order, I would go to the wreckers and get another alarm module. They sit behind the headlight switch in the dash and are very easy to replace. You can even get one out of a car that has keyless if you want and convert your car to keyless as it is a direct plug and play replacement for any of the older MKIII Golfs. Just make sure you get the keyless alarm module and the fob that went along with it and you'll be laughing. I got one from the wreckes up here in London Ontario for 35 bucks and that was for everything not just the module...

Reply to
wolfsburgnut

I'll probably spend some time tomorrow tracing how much of that is left. I looked in the gas cap and see that there is nothing there-- That might be where the 'plugged' line in the trunk goes. [I've managed to lock myself out of the trunk for now. The key won't work in it. It turns, but doesn't seem to be unlatching anything. ]

The LED *was* blinking- but I can't say for sure whether it was a slow or fast blink. Now there is nothing even when I re-hook the battery. But the alarm horn continues to beep.

-snip-

Driver & passenger doors are locking when I lock them individually. The trunk did too--- then after I locked and unlocked it once, it seems to be locked again and I can't open it.

-snip-

That's probably a good idea, too. I'll shop around for a salvage yard tomorrow. They aren't as plentiful around here as they once were.

I thought of somethig else that might be making my situation worse. I don't have the stock radio for this thing. Now that I've disconnected the battery do I need it to reset the anti-theft? I can't find the directions for that in the Bently or Haynes amnuals-- and if it is in the owners manual, I don't have one yet. [should be here next week].

Thanks, Jim

Reply to
Jim Elbrecht

The Volkswagen radios, while they did have an LED that blinked on them to indicate the alarm was armed, did not affect the alarm in any way if replaced with an after market deck. It sounds like to me that you have either a defective alarm unit or a faulty door switch, but from my experience this should not trip the alarm( the faulty door switch that is). If you want to open the trunk did you try the trunk opener button located in either the glovebox or centre console? The alarm will go off if you disconnect the battery and reconnect it and there is a door switch that is open (ie either an open door or a faulty switch.) That alarm should stop honking when you unlock the drivers door (even if you just turn the key to the unlock position when the door was already unlocked.) If it doesn't I would say it is a faulty alarm module for sure.

Peter Rochus

Jim Elbrecht wrote:

Reply to
wolfsburgnut

That's a relief. I looked at the new radio and don't see how it comes out.

I never knew it was there. I got the manual today and saw that there. Yesterday, after much wailing and knashing of teeth I realized I had 'lock' and 'unlock' backwards on the trunk lid. When I opened it I saw the knob I need to pull to lower the back of the rear seat.

I'll go through all of them tomorrow to be sure they're working.

I located it today and tried tapping it, and unplugging/re-plugging it. No joy there. Monday will probably be junkyard day. I'm getting a nice list ready for a trip.

Thanks again Peter--

Jim

Reply to
Jim Elbrecht

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.