Factory Alarm

[rhino1csm]

I have the factory alarm still on my 01 NSX. It has not worked since I bought the car. The door locks work fine. Took it to the Acura dealer and they ordered a new module for the alarm. It did not work after they installed the new module and they said they tested all connections at the doors, hood, and trunk and they were good. Any thoughts on what it could be? The light on the door does not illuminate either. HELP!


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[drew]

Gawd, can you please let us know which Acura dealer? They just load the parts cannon and fire away: any refund the part for not doing reasonable troubleshooting?


The Security Control Unit keeps track of a bunch of, seemingly unrelated, inputs. On the surface I don't know why the SCU would sense head- or tail-lights ,but it does.

Start with a VOM at the SCU connector and start going through the inputs. I have a 1993 ETM, its probably very close to the 2001 and I can scan the ~5 pages for you.


I'm retrofitting a keyless and the hardest part is testing the inputs while the doors are closed.

 

[Old Guy]

The service manual is your friend!

A paper copy would be best; but, a complete .pdf version would also work. There are links to copies of the 97+ manual on Prime which uses active links. Problem with that version of the manual is that it is incomplete - I don't know whether the section covering the SCU is complete or whether it has missing pages. The service manual has a test procedure for checking the SCU. Once you have the test procedure its pretty much follow Drew's directions to diagnose.

Edit: How did you confirm that the security system is inoperative? Did you 'fake' one of the entry switches after locking the car to see if it triggers / doesn't trigger the alarm or is it just because the indicator light is not coming on? If it is just because the door LED is not illuminating, you could just have a bad connection to the LED.

 

[rhino1csm]

Dealer did not charge me for anything. After installing new unit and testing all the switches they still could not get it to work. They put the old unit back in and said they could not figure it out.

I have tried to set it off by locking the doors with the remote and then coming back and reaching in and opening the door from inside using the handle. No alarm, and no light on door indicating it was ever even set.


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[drew]

> Dealer did not charge me for anything.

Good on the Dealer for standing behind their work!

> After installing new unit and testing all the switches they still could not get it to work. They put the old unit back in and said they could not figure it out.

You are going to have to get down and dirty with a test light or VOM and go through the inputs one at a time. It isn't that difficult in theory, but in practice, you'll need a helper to toggle test all the inputs whilst you are cooped up on the passenger side.

It is very likely something like the hood switch, but you will have to test it at the alarm connector.

 

[Old Guy]

I have tried to set it off by locking the doors with the remote and then coming back and reaching in and opening the door from inside using the handle. No alarm, and no light on door indicating it was ever even set.
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I do not believe that will work as a test. When you open the door using the internal handle I believe the door lock button pops up which means that the door latch switches change status from locked to unlocked and deactivates the alarm system. That is the same as using the key to open the door. If you want to test the alarm system to see if it is set, the easiest way is to fake a closed position on the front hood switch or the rear hatch switch with the hood or hatch still open. Lock up the car which should set the alarm and then remove whatever you used to hold the hood or hatch switch in the closed position. Opening the trunk with the release button on the driver's door is also supposed to trigger the alarm if it is set. If the alarm goes off you know it is arming and you just have an indicator light problem.

If the alarm does not arm, the first thing to do would be to check the operation of entry switches on the security indicator and confirm that they are all changing status correctly. The front hood does not display on the security indicator so you have to check that switch separately.

 

[Carbonn]

[MENTION=33254]rhino1csm[/MENTION] Does your 01 NSX's factory alarm system have a 3 amp fuse? Try check and see if the fuse is blown. Replace the fuse if it's blown. See this thread/post for reference: http://www.nsxprime.com/forum/showt...RGH!!-HELP!!?p=1527949&viewfull=1#post1527949

 

[rhino1csm]

Thx, my key fob works the door actuators and locks and unlocks the doors just fine. It has to be something with the arming pins somewhere. The dealer said they checked all connections and they were working fine. They were stumped.


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[rhino1csm]

Thx, I will try that when I get home. Suggestions on how to test hood pin?


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[Old Guy]

Thx, I will try that when I get home. Suggestions on how to test hood pin?


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My car is now in secure winter storage so I can't go and play with the hood switch to test this. However, if you pop the hood open you should easily spot the hood switch at the front center of the hood opening. Use something like a twist tie or have somebody press down on the switch actuating lever with their finger to simulate the hood being closed. Lock up the car which should set the alarm and then let the lever pop up to the open position. If the alarm is working releasing the lever to the up position should set the alarm off.

 

[rhino1csm]

Well, everything is working properly. All of the switches are good and send a signal to the dash except for the hood which you said does not. I did find out that if the hood is open the power locks do not work from the key fob. Once I pushed the pin down under the hood the key fob locked the doors. Nothing I did would set the alarm off. Also, side note, the panic button does not set off the alarm/horn either.


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[Old Guy]

Seems like you are down to the [MENTION=5430]drew[/MENTION] option. Get the section of the service manual covering the SCU and check all the inputs right at the plug that goes into the SCU. If all the pin functions check out correctly, then its back to a problem with the SCU itself.

 

[drew]

Whilst I was scanning in the 2002-2005 ETM supplement, I observed it had an actual troubleshooting table!

I went through the tree and discovered that the key lock sensors were the culprit in my case. If I over torqued, or fiddled, with the door key lock cylinder while I interrogated the switch I could get the alarm to arm when the door lock switch went to ground.

It was flaky as all heck, but it was repeatable with the keyless entry removed. I was unable to arm the system with the keyless installed, even with manual key "assist".

There is a lot I'd issues with the key lock setting off the alarm, so it would be reasonable to assume a faulty lock is causing failure to arm as well.

The 2002 ETM lays it out well, the wire positioning may have changed, but the wire colors are still the same as earlier models.

It was an easy 30 diagnosis.