oem alarm problem...help!!!

[///Achtung]

Hi all!
i posted this on M3F but noone would help so i figured all the knowledgable left there for here so I'll give it a try here....

i finally got around to uninstalling the clifford alarm that the PO had installed in my 95 M3 (11/94 build). I installed a 2 button OEM alarm given to me from my buddy's 97 part out. all went well including programming the remote. No siren (on back order) but the horn under the power point in the engine compartment was there.

Upon testing the alarm everything worked, LED, light flash on arm / disarm and even the low sickly sounding horn when tripped or panicked.

while testing, i noticed that the brain began smoking so i unplugged it and opened to examine the damage, a resistor is now loose and the board under it is discolored, i re assembled and reconnected it. All worked except the horn now, doors locked and unlocked , lights flashed and led worked.

Fast forward to today, doors lock and unlock via remote, but lights no longer flash, panic does not work and neither does the auto lock / unlock on engine start up and turn off. Seems only the keyless entry part and led work noe.

Any ideas as to what may have caused the smoking and why suddenly is the auto lock/ unlock feature no longer working, all fuses are good and wiring is fine.

any insight and help is greatly appreciated.

[BadGTho]

Originally Posted by ///Achtung

Hi all!
i posted this on M3F but noone would help so i figured all the knowledgable left there for here so I'll give it a try here....

i finally got around to uninstalling the clifford alarm that the PO had installed in my 95 M3 (11/94 build). I installed a 2 button OEM alarm given to me from my buddy's 97 part out. all went well including programming the remote. No siren (on back order) but the horn under the power point in the engine compartment was there.

Upon testing the alarm everything worked, LED, light flash on arm / disarm and even the low sickly sounding horn when tripped or panicked.

while testing, i noticed that the brain began smoking so i unplugged it and opened to examine the damage, a resistor is now loose and the board under it is discolored, i re assembled and reconnected it. All worked except the horn now, doors locked and unlocked , lights flashed and led worked.

Fast forward to today, doors lock and unlock via remote, but lights no longer flash, panic does not work and neither does the auto lock / unlock on engine start up and turn off. Seems only the keyless entry part and led work noe.

Any ideas as to what may have caused the smoking and why suddenly is the auto lock/ unlock feature no longer working, all fuses are good and wiring is fine.

any insight and help is greatly appreciated.

a short of some sort likely caused the smoking.

i would toss that brain if i was you... there are several reasons but the best reason would be that a $50 used alarm brain is not worth burning your car to the ground.

you could go through and ohm out the board in there in an attempt to save it but i would not accept that liability.

[ESP]

More than likely the wiring of the Aftermarket alarm is causing some issues with the Factory alarm. In order to achieve things like Double Lock (Superlock) there needs to be some special wiring done for the aftermarket, if left in place it could cause issues for an OEM alarm. How was the Clifford Alarm wired into the car? At the Alarm Harness under the Fuse box in behind the Glove Compartment or in another location? Were all the Clifford Wires removed fully or just cut? Did the Clifford use the horn or an additional siren?

[///Achtung]

Originally Posted by ESP

More than likely the wiring of the Aftermarket alarm is causing some issues with the Factory alarm. In order to achieve things like Double Lock (Superlock) there needs to be some special wiring done for the aftermarket, if left in place it could cause issues for an OEM alarm. How was the Clifford Alarm wired into the car? At the Alarm Harness under the Fuse box in behind the Glove Compartment or in another location? Were all the Clifford Wires removed fully or just cut? Did the Clifford use the horn or an additional siren?

Well there is no aftermarket alarm or wiring left, if I was not clear sorry, I removed all the wiring and components of the clifford alarm so rhat would not be at issue here, just the plain old stock wiring is all that is left and all that is plugged into the oem alarm.having done car audio installs for several years, many years ago, I am confident that there was no remaining wiring from the aftermarket system and more confident that the oem wiring was intact and good.

[BadGTho]

it's very likely that the brain has failed.