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I have a 2002 Berlingo to which is fitted an alarm system made by Cobra. It's caused way more issues than it's worth and I'd like to remove/disable it altogether.
It keeps going off by itself basically and despite button resetting it, will still go off again seemingly randomly.
Coming back from the Alps a couple of years back, in the Eurotunnel it decides to go off mid-journey. Absolute nightmare. Cannot turn it off, lots of deafened French and British people trying to help get it to stop....nightmare.
After that and several other instances, I managed to disconnect the audible alarm and its internal backup battery. But it still goes off silently and the hazards flash.
Driving home yesterday I'm getting flashed, thought I was getting told to turn my lights on at 3.30ish but no, my alarm was going off and the hazards flashing as I'm driving along. Not helpful.
Anyone advise how to go about disconnecting it all without messing up any of my electrics?
It's my car honest..I'm not trying to steal it or owt. 😊
Which cobra model. The lotus Elise of a similar vintage used cobra alarms and it's quite easy to remove them. Just have to make sure there is no other immobiliser to worry about (on the Elise there is and a simple bridging wire disables it).*
Head a cobra alarm on my duster with same symptoms. Finally fixed it by making sure the black control module that sat behind the glove box was fixed in position and the right way up, it had become unstuck and shifted about on bumpy roads.
Go to an In car entertainment specialist and ask them to remove it.
Won't be cheap but the consequences of messing with the cars electrical system could be worse.
Is that manufacturer fitted? Sometimes there's 'codes' you can use to set it. I had an MR2 where programming keys and turning the alarm on and off involved opening and closing the doors in a specific sequence. No idea if that's normal or a weird early 2000s Japanese thing.
Anyone advise how to go about disconnecting it all without messing up any of my electrics?
Basically, find the alarm, trace all the wires, remove all alarm components/wiring and re join the broken circuits.
Main unit is "normally" under the dash, a couple of motion sensors, shock sensor, alarm horn etc throughout the car. Normally going to be hacked into +12v, earth, switched live, central locking, indicators etc and then normally immobilize the car by breaking a couple of circuits; fuel pump, starting circuit etc, they are switched through the alarm unit, so when you remove you will need to repair the circuits, they are often just cut, but sections can be removed to stop you just re joining them.
Installation standards can vary, and can be very poor (aside from old components malfunctioning)
Be prepared to swear a lot.
I had an MR2 where programming keys and turning the alarm on and off involved opening and closing the doors in a specific sequence. No idea if that’s normal or a weird early 2000s Japanese thing.
not unusual at all. A while back I had to disable the immobiliser (or immobilise the disabliser) on my GF's mid 90s Clio
That involved :
Opening up the key and noting a number stamped on the chip
Downloading an .exe file from off of the internet
Emailing the file and the code to a friend who had a PC as it wouldn't run on my mac
He put the number into the app - it threw out another number
He emailed that back
I then had to set the ingnition key in a particular position and then enter the new code by pressing pedals and pushing buttons on the dash.
That switched off the immobiliser
Then using the same process I enter the Konami code and the car now has unlimited lives and ammo
You can do similar tricks with a Vauxhall Astra to get the car to flash ECU fault codes in morse.
Blummin eck! Think I might ask a pro... 😂