How do I disable my alarm?

andygb

After owning this Mondeo for six years, and having no trouble with it at all, is has now started to drive me mad!!!
We never knew it had an alarm until a month ago, when it decided to go off one noght, and we spent the next ten minutes wondering why the selfish so and so didn't go and see to their car! Well that's because it was my car.
Anyway, I have been unable to see why it is going off at random times, so can anyone please tell me how to disable it?
It is a 2000 (X reg) 1.8 Verona, with I think a standard alarm system - lights and noise, then a break, then lights only, then repeat this sequence until I unlock and lock it again.
Thanks,
Andy

vikingaero

If it has a siren rather than just the horn then it's likely to have battery back-up built into the siren. What happens is that the cells age and fail to hold charge, this means that a voltage drop occurs as the car thinks someone has opened a door/boot/bonnet and the alarm goes off. You need to buy a new siren or see if it can be removed. Any decent auto-electrician should be able to sort you out far cheaper than a main dealer.

Strider590

vikingaero wrote: »

If it has a siren rather than just the horn then it's likely to have battery back-up built into the siren. What happens is that the cells age and fail to hold charge, this means that a voltage drop occurs as the car thinks someone has opened a door/boot/bonnet and the alarm goes off..

It actually thinks someone is tampering with the battery, but... Same result

Could also be the ultrasonic sensors (which can go faulty after several years), try using the override switch to turn them off.

harveybobbles

Could be a duff door switch.

andygb

Strider590 wrote: »

It actually thinks someone is tampering with the battery, but... Same result

Could also be the ultrasonic sensors (which can go faulty after several years), try using the override switch to turn them off.

Not sure where the switch is on this car, and the manual isn't much help either:(
We went out around an hour ago, and it went off again within five minutes of locking it.:mad:

knightstyle

On our Scenic the book says that if the ignition is switched on-off-on-off before locking the doors remotely the flashers flash 3 times and the alarm is not set. Might be worth a try.

forgotmyname

Duff battery dropping the voltage over the cold nights could be a cause but the most common fault
is the bonnet switch, It corrodes & fails. Think back did it start soon after you opened the bonnet for
some reason?

andygb

forgotmyname wrote: »

Duff battery dropping the voltage over the cold nights could be a cause but the most common fault
is the bonnet switch, It corrodes & fails. Think back did it start soon after you opened the bonnet for
some reason?

I open the bonnet every week to check the levels, but I did think that could be one of the causes. I cleaned the engine bay a couple of months ago, and I think it has started since then.

forgotmyname

Bonnet switch is attached to the lock, Be careful though the crash sensor is in the same area.

King_Nothing

My bonnet sensor is knackered on my Focus, so I've just unplugged it until I get a new one, it constantly shows up as bonnet open on the dash, but at least it's stopped the alarm going off at all times in the night, try unplugging it, and if the alarm stops going off it's likely that.

forgotmyname

If the bonnet is detected as open it wont deadlock, You need to bridge the connection so it thinks the bonnet is closed.