honda accord 2000 se alarm/security issue
 

car alarm goes off at insane times:

when heavy winds, rains etc.
for no apparent reason

I have been having this issue since last fall...quite strangely ever since I returned from getting the car inspected. I have never been able to duplicate it until tonight, I am desperate, its 1.44am and want to sleep than watching over the car from my office conference room(yeah, cdnt think of a better place to watch and wait).


Detailed description of a horrible night:

This evening...as like all others since last fall, pressing lock twice on the keyless entry did not produce the feedback sound to say it is armed. I walk in inside, prolly 845pm...
2 hours later alarm goes off...
unlock and lock again
alarm goes off in less than half hour
strange, unlock and lock again(keyless)
car BEEPS for the 2nd lock...hallelujah(the security system is not dead, no fuses are blown, the world is A-ok!)
2 minutes later alarm goes off like crazy.
head out, open and shut all the doors, pop the hood and find a wire + plastic connector that went into the left horn LOOSE...shove it back in...put the hood down and lock twice, beeps!,
Just to test that it was no freak act of nature, unlock and lock, lock, NO effin Beep...
Rather than to wake neighbors up, take the car to the nearest mall lot, pop the hood, shove the cable(dont know what it is or where to get its diagrams) in and do the unlock/lock/lock and 5 out of 5 times, car beeps and am happy return home...
half hour later, the effin car starts beeping...
so no other choice, drive the car to work and trying to get through the night. I get out of the car, lock twice, it does not arm, does not beep and it has been 1 hour since i am waiting for the event to occur.

conclusion:

So, it appears my problem is not hood related, not fuse related(checked all fuses), checked all door switches, not a busted security system or a busted led light as well...

it has got to do with what comes into the horns(wires plus a plastic connector)...if I pull it out, will I have issues overall? I want the horn to work though. If I have to short, which wires to short to let security system know, everythings cool with the hood? any other options?

as long as the LED stays lit and horns dont go off, I will be happy...any suggestions...

-a weary honda owner, please help

Have the battery tested tomorrow. A weak battery can cause all sorts of problems with the security system.

To disable the system, just disconnect the - battery cable.

battery repalced last year
 

Hi PAHonda,

I got the battery replaced last year at walmart...I will however, get the battery tested.

when you mean disconnect battery, which of the terminals need to be removed? any order to follow? I am a total noob, sorry

thanks

Drive the car home.

All you have to do is disconnect the black battery cable. Use a 10mm socket or wrench to loosen the bolt. Remove the black cable from the post. Tuck the black wire away so it will not touch the battery terminal.

When you go to leave tomorrow, reconnect the battery cable, so you can drive the car.

Hello PAHonda, back with additional info, please help
 

The problem is back and multiplied in effect...since last night, the car alarm has been going off incessantly. If you recall, i last reported the issue on feb 25 and tried to get it fixed going to the mechanic with no luck

This is what i did(since feb 25):

-got the battery tested(550Cold start AMP and voltage was nearly 11+v)...the mechanic told me the battery was good.
-I asked him to check the wire going into the horn, he removed it, cleaned it and screwed it back in...I thought I had a sequence to reproduce the issue and when I got to the mechanic shop, it simply stopped happening.
-I tried several unlock/lock/lock sequences and gave up...thinking the problem went away(bad idea in hindsight)
-This morning, I went to the dealership and signed up to give away $115 for diagnosing what is wrong with the car...turns out the mechanic was clueless to begin with and did all the standard stuff and came back to me saying that he couldnt make the alarm go off...good news, even though the car was sitting there for an hour and half, they let me go without charging.

But, the issue still remains...

-folks at the dealership tell me there is no way of deactivating the security system without turning off other electronics in the car(2000 honda accord Special edition, is this true?

-It is 132pm and the horn is blaring away. Earlier, I used the key instead of the keyless to lock at 1050PM. The sound is so defeaning, I couldnt wait 2 minutes to see if it would stop. I also forgot to go see the LED on the alarm system to see if it was ON(when I locked the car early this morning, it did not light up)

Last Friday, the car was parked and as usual, with the keyless remote did NOT make the beeping noise, did NOT ARM the security system when the lock button was pressed on the remote.

What is odd is; last night there was rain and i cannot be sure what and where an issue is - this is causing the car to suddenly wake up, probably arm itself and realize something is amiss and alarms go off.

I just want the damn thing to stop...I wouldnt mind living without the horns(is it possible, will this cause my battery to drain if I were to short a couple of wires?)

Tonight, I will remove the battery terminal...but is there anything that I can do to make the sound go away??? please help

The battery should be more than 12V, so hopefully that was a typo.

I do not like security systems for the reason that you are having. The problem is likely with the alarm control unit. Was this an accessory from honda?

It was a number close to 12's, probably a tad over 12 then.

Yes, this is from Honda, factory installed security system.

Any ideas other than having to remove the battery terminal each night?

You can unplug the horn relay. Not sure if the alarm starts flashing lights. If it does, then it may drain the battery.

Thanks, if you dont mind can you describe/help locate the horn relay for me?

Oddly enough, when the horn starts blaring, the lights dont flash. Even more odd is when the car is locked, they dont flash at all(this used to work once upon a time). However, when I unlock the car, the lights flash. Another interesting thing is, if I locked the car with say the drivers side window and opened it, the alarm wont go off...even this used to work...

Probably, there are 2 parts to my issue( i dont know)
1. The security system is not arming when lock tab pressed twice
2. alarm going off at random intervals owing to wind/rain -maybe 2 happens because of 1?

The horn relay should be in one of your fuse boxes. If you have your owner's manual, it should be labeled in there. Usually on the plastic cover of the fuse box, you will have a label of the the fuses/relays as well.

It sounds like you have a problem with either the relays for the alarm control unit, or the control unit is bad. I don't know if you have the owners manual for the security unit, but it should show you how troubleshoot.

i have downloaded a manual from the internet(spooner website) which gives a chapter by chapter indepth view of the electrical system. Analog electronics is just not my thing...there is a table which gives some combinations of things to do and I actually did that and went through the fuse panels on the driver/passenger side and all the fuses are OK.

I will go through the diagrams and try to locate the horn relay and report progress.

thank you for your lightning responses, it is sincerely appreciated

correction: the lights do flash when the alarm goes off...I just stepped out to check the car and I could see the lights flashing and alarm blaring. Bythe time I stepped out to unlock the car, the car had stopped sounding the alarm and when I got to the drivers door, could see that the LED was blinking at the normal pace(roughly 1 per sec) ... which I gather the system has reset and is armed now.

hi PAHonda, question
 

I have a suspicion that its the hood latch...i had called american honda ownerlink and they gave me a sequence to try, when alarm is blaring away, insert master key into the driver door, turn left, turn right, turn left and bring to middle and remove. The alarm stopped blaring and i was able to use the keyless remote for a couple of days ie until yesterday

i took the car to the dealership for a timing belt service and came back home in the evening...it rained last night...i dont know if it was the hood that was opened and shut which confused my car or rain/winds, it went off at 430AM this morning. I came out side, inserted the key and followed the sequence, the car was quiet until afternoon...when i took the car to an isolated parking lot and started to mess with the doors/hood/trunk to see which one is respobsible. It appears the hood is a major contributor.

To troubleshoot this, I generously sprayed wd-40, yet there is stilll lot of gunk...is it possible to remove the hood latch and clean it, is it complicated? Is it possible to remove the hood pin switch and short it...maybe, this will help fix my issue...please let me know.

I took out the cell in the keyless remote and using the key since this afternoon to get in and out of the car, I will write back if there is any progress.

One last question, does the blinking of the LED(number of times) on the driver window panel have any important information to convey?

It blinks 8 times rapidly
pauses
blinks every 2 seconds

kindly write and help please
thank you

I don't know how to help you. That manual that you downloaded covers UK accords, so I don't know if the american accord has different wiring.

Do you have the owner's manual for the alarm system? The alarm does come with one.

I suspect that you will have to figure out the problem by a process of elimination. You will have to see if the hood switch sets the alarm if it is open or closed? Just unplug the electrical connector, and see if the alarm immediately activates. If it does not, then leave it unplugged and see if the problem goes away.

Copy and paste this link in your browser. It looks like the control unit has a sensitivity adjustment that you can try.

handa-accessories.com/accord/accordsecurity.pdf

I had similar problem with my Accord. It was a hood latch little switch completely desintegrated. The switch is riveted to the latch, so you need to buy new latch as it is not available separately.
I just disconnected it and had no problem since then.

Good luck.

PAHonda, Thanks for your reply...the manual has instrcutions for both Right hand drive and left hand drive and was correct wrt under box fuse/under driver fuse diagrams too...

Question for you and Cadreck is, how do you unplug the connector...I cannot reach with my fingers and am not sure if a screwdriver will help?

My 95 didn't have a switch on the latch, so I haven't done this.

Most electrical connectors have a tab you have to push, then you can disconnect the switch. You may be able to do this with two screwdrivers.

If not, you will have to remove the latch. Clean up the latch before you do this, and mark the latch where it bolts, because the latch position can be adjusted. That info should be in that manual that you downloaded.

my bad
 

This is such an old thread and I completely forgot to come back and udpate.

Yes, i took the car to a local mechanic and had the security system connection to the hood latch removed. peace. so much peace that I totally forgot!