Celica Infuriating Alarm Problem

[Jane2]

Hello

I've had my 1998 Celica ST for nearly a year. Recently, the alarm started going off randomly... I've checked the usual responses on this forum - take coins out of the centre consol, turn down the sensor etc with no avail. But, the conclusion I've come to is - if I lock the door with the actual key in the door lock then the alarm doesn't go off, but if I use the lock remotely then it does - perhaps half and hour or so later. Nothing I do stops the alarm, it has even gone off while I've been driving it! One day, it also made a funyy ticking noise like it was going to self destruct in 5 seconds!! Also - if the alarm does play up - when it stops you can sometimes hear it faintly still 'alarming' in the background!! Its a factory fitted one. Any ideas chaps?

[Calisto]

ummmmmmmmmmmmmm nope.......... but welcome to the club.

silly questions mebbe but.....

Do you have a re-setting code???? Is there a little push button re-set it?

Other than that wait for our boys to get back to you, or go to Toyota and ask for advice? or just take the existing alarm out and get a better one fitted.???

[Jane2]

ummmmmmmmmmmmmm nope.......... but welcome to the club.

silly questions mebbe but.....

Do you have a re-setting code???? Is there a little push button re-set it?

Other than that wait for our boys to get back to you, or go to Toyota and ask for advice? or just take the existing alarm out and get a better one fitted.???

Thanks very much for the advice - I'll have a look... presumably this will be with the sensor behind the gear stick.

[sotal]

It sounds knackered,

I've played with most stuff to do with fixing the alarm, and I've never seen your symptoms.

If you hadn't said you had tried them then I would suggest removing anything from the ashtray espicially coins, and try adjusting the sensitivity.

Some people have suggested shutting the air vents but I've never noticed any difference with that.

Another possibility - but very unlikely is your Battery - the alarm has a low Battery circuit which activates the alarm when the voltage drops past a certain level. Try fully charging the Battery and seeing if that helps.

Locking the car with the key instead of the fob doesn't set the alarm so that's why it doesn't go off then! I think also pressing lock twice deactivates the alarm if you would prefer to use the fob.

To reset the fob press the top button, keep it pressed and unscrew the back remove the back wait 10 seconds, put the back, back on then release the button and then press it again (do all this next to the car) - I don't think that will do anything though.

I hope something helps there - but to be honest I don't think it will - it sounds like it is past it's best - If you really want an alarm get a toad cat 1 fitted for aboout £150, otherwise just press the fob button twice each time you walk away!

[Cardboard]

To reset the fob press the top button, keep it pressed and unscrew the back remove the back wait 10 seconds, put the back, back on then release the button and then press it again (do all this next to the car) - I don't think that will do anything though.

Does this really work? There are a few threads I've spotted about people trying to reset fobs, but haven't been able to and have had to spend £60 at Toyota to get it sorted. I hope it does, coz then thats my problem sorted, and all I would have to do is get me a fob!

[sotal]

It only works on fobs which have been programmed to the car.

You cannot buy a fob then program it to your car - that costs about £60-£70 to have done at a Toyota Garage.

Basically once the fob has been programmed to the car - it can go out of sync over time, resetting it using the above trick resyncs it to the car, but that is it - it won't program the fob.

I don't know of anyway it can be done without going to Mr T

[Cardboard]

It only works on fobs which have been programmed to the car.

You cannot buy a fob then program it to your car - that costs about £60-£70 to have done at a Toyota Garage.

Basically once the fob has been programmed to the car - it can go out of sync over time, resetting it using the above trick resyncs it to the car, but that is it - it won't program the fob.

I don't know of anyway it can be done without going to Mr T

aaaah - that makes sense....when it goes out of sync, does it mean that it wont unlock the first time you press the button? With mine, I'm having to press unlock quite a few times, before it actually unlocks.

[sotal]

You could try it - but when mine goes out of sync it won't open no matter how many times I press it.

Could be a weak Battery or could just be worn out.

[Cardboard]

You could try it - but when mine goes out of sync it won't open no matter how many times I press it.

Could be a weak battery or could just be worn out.

thanks - will give it a go

[Cardboard]

You could try it - but when mine goes out of sync it won't open no matter how many times I press it.

Could be a weak battery or could just be worn out.

thanks - will give it a go

well woud ya believe it?! It worked! brought a dead fob back to life and saved £60ish!

[sotal]

great

[Handson29]

i've been there and tried everything suggested on here and nothing made a differerence. Coins/keys, anything metal out of the centre console and the ashtray. I turned the sensitivity on the control by the gear lever all the way down it could go. I turned the temperature control to warm, i set the air control to circulate inside the car instead of bringing it in from outside and i shut all the air vents. It would still go off during the day. Now the only thing that differentiates it is that it only does it in the spring and summer, doesn't happen during the winter/autumn so the conclusion being it's something to do with the temperature in side the car. I.e. when it has sun on it and the inside of the car heats up a lot which it will only do with a decent temperature outside and sun shine.

I understand that the alarm has ultrasound sensors so that it's not the fact that a higher temperature sets the alarm off but it must be something to do with having warmer air in side the car than outside and that is affecting something else which makes the sensors think something has been disturbed and therefore sounds the alarm.

I gave up and just use the key at home and at work, everywhere else i leave it i use the fob.

[Cardboard]

i've been there and tried everything suggested on here and nothing made a differerence. Coins/keys, anything metal out of the centre console and the ashtray. I turned the sensitivity on the control by the gear lever all the way down it could go. I turned the temperature control to warm, i set the air control to circulate inside the car instead of bringing it in from outside and i shut all the air vents. It would still go off during the day. Now the only thing that differentiates it is that it only does it in the spring and summer, doesn't happen during the winter/autumn so the conclusion being it's something to do with the temperature in side the car. I.e. when it has sun on it and the inside of the car heats up a lot which it will only do with a decent temperature outside and sun shine.

I understand that the alarm has ultrasound sensors so that it's not the fact that a higher temperature sets the alarm off but it must be something to do with having warmer air in side the car than outside and that is affecting something else which makes the sensors think something has been disturbed and therefore sounds the alarm.

I gave up and just use the key at home and at work, everywhere else i leave it i use the fob.

my alarm does that sometimes- it goes off on its own accord for some reason. Not very often though. I've found that if you double-arm it, so that it disables the internal sensors, then it will be fine. And like you, it happens more in the warmer weather. I have resynched my fob by holding th arm button down, unscrewing the back and prising the cover off so that the Battery is disconnected - leave it like that for 10 secs whilst keeping the arm button pressed, then put the back back on and let go of the arm buttom. It hasn't happendedd since, but that might be conincedence. Try it and see if it does anything for you. Let us know.

[Handson29]

i've tried the double alarming trick decribed, pressing the arm button twice when you set it..........guess what still went off on sunny sunday morning! Haven't got round to trying the remove Battery trick to resync it, want to try that at the weekend when i don't need the car straight away if something goes wrong..........

[Ollylewin]

Hi guys this is my first ever post so bear with me.

The reason I found this site is as follows. I bought a celica 1.8 vvti in a private sale. I thought I had found all the problems with it when buying it. The lady I bought it from said the key fob batteries were flat and just needed replacing to make them work again. So I bought the car, a sweet motor might I add, and changed the batteries as instructed. However this is where my major problems began. The fob would unlock the car but wouldn't lock it again. Both the fobs did the same thing! So I searched and searched and searched. And found my self here on this very page. I tried the re-sync thing but still no joy. I dismantled one of the fobs to look for obvious problems but still to no avail. I ended up admitting defeat and ringing toyota in Leicester. I spoke to the technical guy there and explained exactly what I was experiencing. He gave me the usual "bring the car in and we can run a diagnostics for £40". Stuff that I thought I'm a mechanic and I will suss this on my own. So again I tried all the hints on this site but then I noticed something. When I unlocked the car the LED would light and the car would unlock, and then re-lock itself and arm the alarm after 28 seconds as it should. So the CL relay was fine. I again took the key apart and noticed the micro-switch/button was slightly off square. Out of curiosity I wiggled it and "HEY! IT MOVED!" 3 of the legs had come away from the board. A little bit of very micro soldering and now I have 2 working key fobs. Just thought it might be worth telling this tale to help others in the future.

[DJWMK]

Hi

I don't have the same car - mine is Celica 140 VVT-i 2002 '02 plate - but I do have similar random alarm going off. "Re-programming is the best solution" says Mr T...uuummm more cash passing from 'Lady Driver' to the Dealership. In the end i found that by pressing my fob 'lock' 3 times...the alarm does not go off. Although this disables windows alarms, at least I don't have to embarrassingly get up at 3am to switch it off!

PS: I guess you've tried closing all the air vents too!

[T600]

Random false alarms on Gen 7 Celicas are often caused by coins, keys or similar left in the drinks holder in the centre console. They seem to somehow reflect or magnify signals and cause the alarm to trigger.

I found this was definitely the case with my Gen 7 when I had it, and have passed that advice on to other owners before, and it has resolved their false alarms.

HTH

Tony

[BenMMellor]

I had a similar issue with my Gen 6 GT when I took some of the bulkhead mountings off for powder coating before JAE. The bonnet has a push down sensor above the steering column (where it comes through the firewall) - when I put it back together it wasn't quite level and was causing the 'chirping sound' on alarm engagement, then randomly going off. When I levelled it out a bit (give it a little twist by hand to line it up again) it was back to normal.