car alarm problems

My wife's three month old BMW 3281 sports touring had it's car alarm
going off this morning. It would stop and start again. We tried
locking/unlocking, and then driving it and stopping. Eventually it stopped.

How hard is it to disconnect an alarm system, or at least just the noisy
part of it?

really real > wrote:
>My wife's three month old BMW 3281 sports touring had it's car alarm
>going off this morning. It would stop and start again. We tried
>locking/unlocking, and then driving it and stopping. Eventually it stopped.

So, why didn't you take it back to the dealer? And, is the alarm system
a BMW system or a third-party system installed by the dealer?

>How hard is it to disconnect an alarm system, or at least just the noisy
>part of it?

That depends entirely on what kind of alarm it is. For the most part,
the alarm systems are designed to make it hard for you to disable them,
because they can't tell the owner from a thief. The BMW system is probably
much more difficult to disable than a dealer-installed system.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

On 27 Jul 2014 17:25:39 -0400, (Scott Dorsey) wrote:

>really real > wrote:
>>My wife's three month old BMW 3281 sports touring had it's car alarm
>>going off this morning. It would stop and start again. We tried
>>locking/unlocking, and then driving it and stopping. Eventually it stopped.
>
>So, why didn't you take it back to the dealer? And, is the alarm system
>a BMW system or a third-party system installed by the dealer?
>
>>How hard is it to disconnect an alarm system, or at least just the noisy
>>part of it?
>
>That depends entirely on what kind of alarm it is. For the most part,
>the alarm systems are designed to make it hard for you to disable them,
>because they can't tell the owner from a thief. The BMW system is probably
>much more difficult to disable than a dealer-installed system.

He says the car's three months old. Assuming it's the factory alarm
that's causing problems, then why on *earth* wouldn't he or anybody
else just dump it back on the dealer with instructions to fix the
damned thing and call back when they've done that?

It seems that many of reallyreal's posts are actually trite and
meaningless and here, for example, are really just posts for the sake
of posting about his "wife's three month old BMW 3281 sports
touring."

I think there's a psychological name for his condition, but I can't
remember it.

> He says the car's three months old. Assuming it's the factory alarm
> that's causing problems, then why on *earth* wouldn't he or anybody
> else just dump it back on the dealer with instructions to fix the
> damned thing and call back when they've done that?

And how do you think the dealer is going to fix an intermittent problem
unless it starts going wrong in front of him.

I don't need an alarm, and unless it violates some insurance rule, I'd
like to disconnect it.


> It seems that many of reallyreal's posts are actually trite and
> meaningless and here, for example, are really just posts for the sake
> of posting about his "wife's three month old BMW 3281 sports
> touring."
>
> I think there's a psychological name for his condition, but I can't
> remember it.


It's true. I'm showing off that we have a new BMW while most of the
people here are enthusiasts of older, cheaper BMWs.

My psychological problem is that I like to stimulate newsgroup
discussions. Of course, it's self-serving - I was hoping someone here
knew how to disconnect the alarm system.

really real > wrote:
>> He says the car's three months old. Assuming it's the factory alarm
>> that's causing problems, then why on *earth* wouldn't he or anybody
>> else just dump it back on the dealer with instructions to fix the
>> damned thing and call back when they've done that?
>
>And how do you think the dealer is going to fix an intermittent problem
>unless it starts going wrong in front of him.

By pulling the logs from the computer system and seeing what the system
was doing when it went wrong. This isn't 1980 any more.

>I don't need an alarm, and unless it violates some insurance rule, I'd
>like to disconnect it.

If it's a BMW system, there may be a software patch the dealer can install
that will disconnect it. However, if it's alarming randomly and under
warranty, I'd want to know why before doing that.

If it's a dealer-installed system, on the other hand, it may be an adventure
to remove.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

On Sun, 27 Jul 2014 18:30:04 -0700, really real >
wrote:

>It's true. I'm showing off that we have a new BMW while most of the
>people here are enthusiasts of older, cheaper BMWs.

A 328 is merely an entry level four-pot BMW, you know?

>My psychological problem is that I like to stimulate newsgroup
>discussions. Of course, it's self-serving - I was hoping someone here
>knew how to disconnect the alarm system.

Scott has told you the same thing that I did. Take it to the dealer,
it's *their* problem!

"really real" > wrote in message
...
> My wife's three month old BMW 3281 sports touring had it's car alarm
> going off this morning. It would stop and start again. We tried
> locking/unlocking, and then driving it and stopping. Eventually it
> stopped.
>
> How hard is it to disconnect an alarm system, or at least just the noisy
> part of it?

Mine sometimes does this if you lock it remotely and unlock with the key or
if you dead lock and remote alarm and unlock with the key. Usually a cycle
of remote lock / unlock sorts it.

:
>
>> It's true. I'm showing off that we have a new BMW while most of the
>> people here are enthusiasts of older, cheaper BMWs.
>
> A 328 is merely an entry level four-pot BMW, you know?


Of course it is. I've grown up driving Japanese cars and my current '01
Prelude has been a great pleasure to me. BMW's were always cars for
yuppies and showing off. But what can I do, we inherited money, and the
4 door AWD wagon is the only car available that fits our needs and isn't
too big. But we're still sort of embarrassed to own a BMW, especially
when our city is full of huge black BMW SUVS.


> Scott has told you the same thing that I did. Take it to the dealer,
> it's *their* problem!


Of course I'm taking it to the dealer. I'm also wondering if other
electrical issues we're having are related to this problem. I just don't
have a lot of faith in dealers fixing intermittent electrical problems.

>

On Mon, 28 Jul 2014 06:22:09 -0700, really real >
wrote:

>But we're still sort of embarrassed to own a BMW, especially
>when our city is full of huge black BMW SUVS.

But not too embarrassed to post here about trivial problems that any
sane, rational and well-adjusted person would just go back to the
dealer for?

On 7/28/2014 8:02 AM, Dean Dark wrote:
> On Mon, 28 Jul 2014 06:22:09 -0700, really real >
> wrote:
>
>> But we're still sort of embarrassed to own a BMW, especially
>> when our city is full of huge black BMW SUVS.
>
> But not too embarrassed to post here about trivial problems that any
> sane, rational and well-adjusted person would just go back to the
> dealer for?
>


Of course I'm going to the dealer, Mr Sand,
Rational & Well-Adjusted.

The other posters here have given me good advice, like how to manipulate
the doorlock to stop it, until I can leave it at the dealer ( they won't
let me drop it off until tomorrow.) Also, the fact that there might be a
dealer installed alarm system is good info.

You think an intermittent electrical problem is trivial? My neighbours
don't think so.

What's the matter with you is the real question.