GTI - Alarm goes off randomly

[oas]

Hi guys,

in the past couple of weeks after coming home and locking the car, the alarm goes off randomly (windows are up and nothing loose to move around in the car)
today it went off within a minute of locking

can't tell how often it happens since I don't park my car close to my work building, so could be going off during the day

the door panel was taken off by a panel beater a couple of weeks which could be a possible cause

any ideas on where to start looking?

[wai]

Hi guys,

in the past couple of weeks after coming home and locking the car, the alarm goes off randomly (windows are up and nothing loose to move around in the car)
today it went off within a minute of locking

can't tell how often it happens since I don't park my car close to my work building, so could be going off during the day

the door panel was taken off by a panel beater a couple of weeks which could be a possible cause

any ideas on where to start looking?

Sounds like a loose connection somewhere.

Around 12 years ago, my Hiace SBV (now traded on a Caddy Maxi Life) had a problem where the alarm would trigger in the middle of the night.

There it turned out that the bonnet switch was not installed perpendicular to the bonnet so when the temperature dropped, the switch peg would shrink and "slip" up the steep slope of the bonnet and trigger the alarm.

Even with my new Caddy I had an issue. I got it home late in the day and then set about going over it and settings things up. Then when I tried to lock it up and set the alarm I would get 3 chirps indicating that something had not locked fully. I opened and closed things, but still no luck. The interior lights would not go off either. The graphic in the MFD was not really clear.

The next morning (much brighter), I was putting my gear in the back to go to my client's offices and when I closed the tailgate I thought "that's quite a poor fit for the tailgate". I opened it and was a bit more positive when closing it and that fixed things!!

It is going to be a matter of checking everything. Do you get a chirp code (or something similar) when you set the alarm?

Unfortunately, the panel beater might not have reconnected things correctly.

[Maverick]

Hi guys,

in the past couple of weeks after coming home and locking the car, the alarm goes off randomly (windows are up and nothing loose to move around in the car)
today it went off within a minute of locking

can't tell how often it happens since I don't park my car close to my work building, so could be going off during the day

the door panel was taken off by a panel beater a couple of weeks which could be a possible cause

any ideas on where to start looking?

I would start with the manual and disable the interior ultrasonic detectors and tow away protection before you leave the car to see if the alarm still goes off so you can work out where the problem is. Also check to see if it's an environmental reason with the location you're parking the car, there may be some new equipment nearby that causes the problem.

[NabzGTI]

I would start with the manual and disable the interior ultrasonic detectors and tow away protection before you leave the car to see if the alarm still goes off so you can work out where the problem is. Also check to see if it's an environmental reason with the location you're parking the car, there may be some new equipment nearby that causes the problem.

x2

You might have a nasty pet living in your car that comes out at night and sets off the interior motion sensor.

[oas]

Used to have ultra-sonic sensors in my previous car with an Autowatch alarm
they were so sensitive, I swear dust would set off the alarm, so used to just disable the sensors when I armed the car (only got the option as RAC used to offer an additional 5% discount on insurance for having ultra-sonic sensors installed)

Don't get any chirps or anything after the alarm goes off

Would this log in the canbus? Don't have access to a cable to hook up and check if it logs when the alarm is triggered

looks like i'll be ripping off the door panel this weekend and having a look :S

[wai]

That's odd.

You should get some indication either when the alarm is activated or de-activated.

Both the one I had with my Hiace and the one with my Caddy have this.

With the Caddy, if you try and arm the alarm with a door not fully closed, you get 3 chirps. With my Hiace, I got one chirp to say it was armed, and then a gap of 1/2 a second followed by another chirp and then the indicators would stay on for 10 seconds.

If the alarm went off, the Hiace would give you a series of chirps (various combinations of short and long) to indicate whether it was a door, boot/rear doors or bonnet that was triggered. I have not had the Caddy trigger as yet so don't know what will happen.

May need some more digging.

[oas]

The standard alarm in the GTI probably doesn't have full functionality compared to after-market alarms so might not do it