Alarm keeps stuffing up :(

[ekay1]

i dunno if ek hatches (CXI) civics all came with an alarm system, but i have an alarm on my civic and sometimes it stuffs up and its getting so annoying!!!! what happens is when i press the unlock button the remote it makes the noise and unlocks, but as soon as it unlocks it locks itself again...i have to manually open the door with a key on the passenger side because the drivers side wont unlock and climb in through the passenger side...somebody please help me!!!!

[dahondr98]

No, none of the EK models come with an alarm standard. They do have a key operated central locking system fitted as standard, which unlocks both doors when either door is unlocked (by key). If you have an alarm system, then it’s been fitted by someone after initial sale, as I had fitted (too late!) to mine shortly after it was new. It sounds as if they have hooked up an aftermarket remote locking solenoid in conjunction with the alarm, to operate the locking via an actuator when the alarm is remotely released. So I’d say that the remote locking system is playing up – you’ll have to remove the driver’s door trim to see how it’s been fitted. It will most likely have a stiff wire to a solenoid-operated actuator fitted somewhere in the door, so that when the alarm is operated, the actuator also operates, and pulls the lock to lock it. It’s obviously playing up, so you’ll have to either play around with it yourself, or get a car alarm specialist to look at it. It would be cheapest to do it yourself.

It may just be that the screws holding the door lock actuator have loosened or something, so that it doesn’t open the lock properly, or it may just be a case of adjusting its position slightly, so that it unlocks the lock completely. As it seems it’s probably not unlocking the lock completely, chances are it’s either loose, or wear has caused it to become mal-adjusted, probably caused by being incorrectly adjusted when fitted. I’ve included a picture showing a typical aftermarket fitting for a Gemini, just to give you an idea of what’s involved. You can see the actuator – the black thing at the upper left of the pic, with a blue, green and red wire coming out of it – attached to the door, and operating the lock by pulling on the standard lock rods in the doors. The solenoid to operate it is probably under the dash, near the alarm. If you can’t find the alarm, then you can trace the wires going to it from the engine bay – there will be one from a bonnet switch at the front of the engine bay, and some wires for the siren, probably fitted near the firewall. Just trace them through the firewall grommet, and see where they go.

If the actuator itself is faulty, due to getting water in it or something, then they can be bought singly - places like Jaycar sell them.

Edit: I’ve just had a look at the original pre-sales brochure that came with my car, and saw that the CXi didn’t have central locking – only the top model (VTi-R) had it. So, there will most likely be aftermarket actuators fitted to both the driver’s and passenger’s doors on your car, similar to the one in the picture. There is a description of fitting remote central locking to an ED Civic in the DIY forum here, to give you an idea of what is involved: http://www.ozhonda.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46819&highlight=central+locking .

[02gzm]

The actual lock has a tendancy to start to stick over time. And a lot of modern aftermarket central locking units use a master and slave actuator for the driver and passenger side doors. Master actuators will generally have 5 wires and slaves will have 2. The master actuators use 2 wires for power, 1 as a lock position sender, another 1 as a unlock position sender and I can't remember what the last one is for off the top of my head atm.
The actuators are recieving the unlock signal but because the lock is slightly jamming, the actuator is reading that the lock is shut and sending the signal back to the control unit which then tells the master actuator to lock again.

Take the door trim off and spray the crap out of the lock with WD40 from the inside. Test the lock with the key to make sure that the lube is working properly. It'll be stiff to begin with and after a few sprays it should feel like new again. Then test it with the remote and it should be working fine again ;) Then just put the trim back together afterwards.

If the actuator is faulty it will just die and not work.

I've had a similar thing happen to both my EG and my girlfriends EK over the years.

[ekay1]

THANKS GUYS SOO MUCH, i havnt had a chance to look at it yet but i will definately have a look tomrrow!!!