I bought a used 1998 Honda Accord years ago and it has served me well. A remote was not given to me from the old owner. Today the horn honked and headlights flashed as soon as I turned the key in the ignition. I had no idea it had an alarm. How do I deactivate this function or at least turn it off when I get in the car? I tried leaving the engine running when I stopped for a moment but as soon as I opened the door, there it went again. It honks for a minute or so and then eventually quits. Sure is annoying.

 

This will be better in the General Tech. area so I'll move it.

Is it an EX, LX, DX, 4-door?
I think only the EX had a factory alarm (USA models). Others might be an aftermarket alarm & then what particular type is it?

I had a 1998 EX 4-door with the factory alarm. Regardless whether you used the key or the remote, the alarm was seamless. I think I remember the only way to set it off was lock the doors while the windows were open - then reach in to unlock manually.

 

Hey Jim:
Problem eliminated! All my reading referenced the battery as the most probable culprit to the problem. Lifting my hood, I saw that my battery posts where full of the fuzzy green stuff. I pulled the cables off, cleaned the cable heads and the posts, turned the ignition key to the 'on' position and reattached the cables to the posts. Varoom. No horn blaring. I don't know if the success was due to the reset of pulling the cable wires, or cleaning the posts, or a combo of both. At any rate, I am totally back to normal motoring and I certainly appreciate your help.
Sincerely,
Jack Day

 

If that's what you found, you might want to look at the other ends of each battery cable...

 

Thanks for the info on the battery cable other ends. ...Forgot to mention, the radio then had to be re-coded. On the wall inside the glovebox is a 5 numeral code. One plugs that into the keypad and the radio begins playing again. ...I wonder who dreamed up all this nonsense. Life used to be so simple.

 

That's supposed to be a SECRET code so someone steals your radio they can't get it to work. Then a lot of owners (& dealers too) started writing the code somewhere in the car.

You can log into Honda Ownerlink & retrieve your code. But if someone has already "claimed" your car's VIN (like a previous owner) you probably can't get it.