ORIGINAL: robwright
The alarm is basically a box full of relays that will open and close the circuits of the car. Start at the box and pick one pair of wires at a time. Each pair will go to a specific circuit in the car. At the ends of the wire pairs the original circuit will be cut and the two wires of the alarm will be joined to the ends that were cut. Remove the alarm wires then rejoin the original wires. It ALWAYS better to do this by soldering then cover in heatshrink material. A solder joint is impervious to moisture. You may find that some wires are not in pairs but just single and spliced into the existing wiring. These are circuits that the alarm doesn't need to diasable but does need to operate such as indicators or central locking. In this case trace the wire to wear it is spliced into the car's wiring and cut it there and make good with heatshrink or tape where the wire was cut out. Hope this helps mate [
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That's the best description of how to remove an alarm I have ever read. Spot on, Rob.
Expensive cars were supplied without alarms and immobilisers for many years, before manufacturers started building them in. So they had aftermarket ones fitted. All well and good, but the average car alarm fitter is not the cleverest of beasts (apologies to any who may be reading this), and tends to be deeply in love with scotchblock connectors, nasty insulation tape and has little regard for good quality workmanship. Hence many alarms 'went wrong'. Solution? Well, solving the problem would be tedious for an alarm fitter, especially when they could just sell a new alarm ... so a new alarm would be fitted (equally badly), and the cycle would repeat, often with the old alarm semi-removed.
Fast forward 10 years and there are a lot of cars with bits of alarms semi-fitted, and problems waiting to happen. If you have an old car with bits of alarm fitted, it is ALWAYS a good idea to remove them and make sure that the connections re-made are done properly, with solder and heatshrink. It makes for a tidy, reliable contact and you won't regret it. And, if you fit an alarm (which is quite possible as a DIY job), follow the same rules; solder and heatshrink, cut wires to length and route them carefully.
(I recall removing an INDECENT amount of hi-fi and alarm cabling from an old Mk2 Golf I once bought. I lined the cable I had removed up by the car and remember working out that there was getting on for 1/2km of wiring ... and it wasn't light stuff either!)
A cheaper, well-fitted alarm is a much better long-term ownership proposition than an expensive, badly-fitted alarm.
(If you do fit an alarm yourself and need to declare it for insurance purposes, you'll need a certificate to say it works as it should. Your local alarm installer should be happy to inspect your work and give you such a certificate - mine cost around £30, I seem to remember.)
Oli.
