Immobiliser woes

[peanut]

Today was sunny,warm and dry so I decided to try and fix my S2 which after 8 years of faultless starting has lately been cranking intermittently .

I tested the starter and solenoid in situ and they were fine so I suspected the Silca Mk2 immobiliser , so I thought that I'd cut it out and get rid of the useless pita once and for all .......



You know how when you prod a little patch of rust and end up cutting half your chassis and sills away ?............well pulling a couple of immobiliser wires today led to pulling all this lot out from under the dash :yikes::wtf:

Hidden away unbenownst to me was a SPST switch in the glove box ?? no idea what that was for .....Then behind the ECU I rediscovered a redundant Clifford Falcon ll Alarm ! and boy does that sucker have some extensive wiring !

I don't think I'll be driving to the shops any time soon [&o]

 

[Mike_Pollock]

Birds nest doesn't come into!

My first 2.5 had 3 alarms removed when I put a new one in!

 

[peanut]

I used to relish getting stuck into wiring but working on the 944 under the dash on your back is sheer misery for anyone with a back problem.

Just hope that the weather improves tomorrow []

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[pauljmcnulty]

working on the 944 under the dash on your back is sheer misery for anyone with a back problem.

I feel your pain! [&o]

I had an issue with my van last month. To strip the failing aftermarket alarm out and restore all the wiring to original spec was only two hours work for the local expert. Probably the best £100 or so I've ever spent!

 

[peanut]

I hear what you are saying Paul and if I thought I could get this done properly by a local auto electrician for under £300 I might be tempted but
Most of this mess was done originally by a so called Auto tech specialist .

I'll just sort it out slowly and methodically and know that it has been done properly with no corners cut.

 

[peanut]

well the rain finally stopped around 3pm today so I thought that I'd progress the removal of my alarm and immobiliser.

After removing loads of plastic tiewraps under the dash I managed to prize up my fuse/relay box to access the wiring underneath and this is the mess that I found.
Bear in mind that this mess was carried out by a trained & qualified licenced Auto Security Clifford Alarm technician ........

All those of a nervous disposition look away now ![]

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After cutting out over 20x alarm and immobiliser connections to the loom I finally found the intermittent starting problem.
It was a dry solder joint on a wire to the DME relay that came apart when the plastic tape was removed . How it had worked perfectly for so many years is a complete mystery!
Just look at the dangerous mess that had been made of the main terminal 30 red wire .There are 7x wires soldered to it then taped up .

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[JM1962]

Went through this myself removing 2 immobilisers and and alarm. Only problem now is I don't like leaving the car anywhere. Do you plan to fit a new system?

 

[peanut]

good question Jim the same had occurred to me.
I think I shall probably fit a small isolation switch somewhere hidden and use it to break the brown ground lead from terminal 85 on the DME relay
Its simple and very effective.

How long did it take you to remove the alarms ?
I'm still trying to reinstate the original wiring which was completely removed . Its like removing ivy from a tree []

 

[JM1962]

It took me a morning to do it but I started working life as an electrician so I'm ok with that sort of thing. The difficult bit was working under the fuse/relay box where there is not a lot of room for maneuver. This is where the immobilised circuits had been cut on my car, fortunately all the original wiring was in place.

 

[tref]

I did one recently and it took me best part of a day - I had allowed two. The worst for me was trying to see where I could get a hot air gun to shrink the heat shrink over the soldered joints without damaging anything else.

 

[944Scott]

What I cant understand is why don't the old units get removed before adding another. I pulled two out of mine plus a tracker

 

[peanut]

I expect it is because removal of some of the alarms like the Clifford mkll I am removing from mine, requires removal of both door panels and the dash fascia to get at all the wiring and that is a lot of work.
The amount of work involved in installing the alarm in my car would have taken more than a working day for sure

 

[peanut]

ORIGINAL: tref

I did one recently and it took me best part of a day - I had allowed two. The worst for me was trying to see where I could get a hot air gun to shrink the heat shrink over the soldered joints without damaging anything else.

I used to use the soldering iron bit.[] works a treat to localise the heat .