Hello

 

I have a problem with the car alarm in my Skoda Octavia Elegance Mk II 1.9 tdi.

 

It keeps on going off for no reason.

 

I have had the siren changed and a reputable Skoda dealer has checked the system no less than 5 times to try to understand what the problem is. To date, they have not been able to find a reason.

 

There seems to be no discernible trend as to why it goes off. 

 

For example, it just went off, even though we have not used the car since 20.00 hours last night. On the other hand, a week ago, it went off 10 minutes after we had locked the car to go to the local supermarket.

 

Would really appreciate any advice that anyone can give.

 

Cheers

 

Peter

Using VCDS you can check what triggered the alarm. From memory you need to be looking at Central Convenience, then measuring block something will tell you the alarm source code.

That would point you to what's causing it to trigger (like the internal sensors or rear hatch etc.).

Edited 30 October, 20169 yr by Rustynuts

Rustynuts,

 

Thanks for your reply. The dealers have checked vagcom and can't find anything significant. Based on what happened today, I will take it back to them and get them to hook it up again. However, they have spent hours on this issue and it still won't go away. I was trying to find out of it might be something less obvious and/or simple.

Since it went off a few hours ago, it has been silent, thank goodness.

 

Shortly I am going to take the car for a spin, get it heated up and do what someone else suggested, which is to shut the vents and put the heating on full, to kill off any spiders. moths, insects etc etc.

 

I have also read that the rear hatch can be an issue. Any idea how to physically check that?

 

Cheers.

 

Like I said (dealers aside as they don't really care about such trivial issues really) you can check what actually triggered the alarm, so I'd find someone local with VCDS and ask them to check. Cheaper than the dealers and a much higher chance of success. Killing moths and spiders won't help if the rear hatch is the problem.

Do a search on here, there are quite a few similar complaints.

 

It's normally down to a dodgy bonnet, door or boot sensor.

 

As mentioned find a garage with VCDS, this should pinpoint the exact location of the trigger.

A battery on its way out will trigger it , I had replaced the siren a year earlier , it was the cause of mine repeatedly going off . New battery no more problems

Thanks everyone. Car has a one year old battery, so unlikely to be that and also siren is new.

 

To be fair, my dealer had his tech spend 5 hours on the car last time checking for faults and did not charge me, as they replaced the siren.

 

Interesting update. After last episode, decided to run the car on full heater with vents closed for a couple of relatively short trips down the motorway, in order to kill any spiders/insects living in the aircon/heating. Have now left the car for 2 nights/ 1 day with vents still closed and internal alarm disabled through the switch on drivers side. So far, so good.

 

The idea of an insect living in the aircon/heater is not so far fetched as once a wasp came out of the central aircon vents whilst we were driving down a motorway, in an older Skoda that we had. Quite a shock! lol.

 

Thanks again for advice. Cheers.

mine done it.
Daft question is the door warning light on th dash still on when you lock the door at all? If it is its a good catch that the door lock / handle isn't quiet completeing the circuit. Every time you lock the car it thinks there is a door that's open and will sound the alarm.

Stuart, no it is not. Thanks!

Rustynuts,

 

I am not in the UK at the moment and an authorised Skoda service centre is dealing with this problem. They are also an authorised Audi dealer and are using something called Audo ORS or similar to check the alarm issues. When I asked them about Vagcom, they told me that what they are using is the updated version of Vagcom, but they also told me that it is nowhere near as good as Vagcom.

 

Can you or anyone tell me what is the name of the computer equipment that should be used by a dealer/service centre to check a Skoda?

 

They are being incredibly helpful and will get someone who has vagcom to check the car, as they cannot seem to isolate the fault with the equipment they have.

 

Many thanks for any assistance.

Vagcom stopped production some years ago. The tool is called VCDS.

Vagcom stopped production some years ago. The tool is called VCDS.

 

Thanks Rustynuts.

IIRC you can see what caused the last 2 or 3 alarm activations with VCDS.

 

I had the same issue as you....alarm randomly going off every 3 weeks or so. I was thinking faulty door switch or similar, but when I checked with VCDS all the activations were caused by the ultrasonic movement sensors (probably insects moving about). VCDS also allows you to adjust the sensitivity of the Ultrasonic sensors, so I turned them down to 50% sensitivity and in the 18 months since I've had no random activations.     

IIRC you can see what caused the last 2 or 3 alarm activations with VCDS.

 

 

This has been mentioned... :peek:

Hi booke23,

 

Thanks for your advice. The dealer/service centre that I am using is an authorised Skoda service centre (outside UK) and they have been using some piece of equipment provided by Audi. I was with the tech when he did the last analysis of the last siren event and the system he was using could not even give an accurate date of the event. The timing of 04.00am was also questionable. I need to find out if what they are using is VCDS or something else. The tech told me that the fault given was the "siren" but nothing more specific than that. Given the fact that they have replaced that already, that seems unlikely but possible.

 

Anyway they are going to take the car for a few days and they will get a guy who has vagcom to check the car and see if they can pin down the fault. It seems like the they are not using VCDS, but I will check and see. Whatever they are using is Audi approved.

 

Thanks again to everyone for advice given.

I had the same problem, it took a VAG specialist 8 hours to diagnose - turned out to be a damaged shorting out.

Mark

I had the same problem, it took a VAG specialist 8 hours to diagnose - turned out to be a damaged shorting out.

Mark

 

Mark what do you mean by "damaged shorting out"? Can you be more specific please?

The service centre I am using have spent a lot more time on the problem than that already and we are still no closer. I hope that this specialist with the vagcom will be able to sort it out this week.

The fact that it took your specialist so long, with the right equipment shows that the problem is not quite so simple as looking at whatever the VCDS gives as an error code.

 

Sorry that should have said damaged wire shorting out. Unfortunately I didn't ask where it was. I was just so relieved to get it sorted.

Hope you get yours sorted soon.

Mark

Hi Mark,

 

Thanks for that info. Coincidentally, that was the next port of call for the tech who is checking my car. He suggested that there may be faulty wiring connected to the siren itself. Yes I have to say, the problem is driving me crazy, because I now "expect" it to go off. Where we live is a very quiet area, so if this goes off late at night or in the early hours, we will not be popular with our neighbours, in particular, as I understand that the siren goes off for 20 minutes, unless stopped. Not sure of it is so long, but that is what I have been told.

 

Thankfully they have disconnected the siren until they take the car in this week, so we can at least enjoy a peaceful week-end.

 

Cheers.

This has been mentioned... :peek:

 

Yes I know....Surprisingly I can read....

 

I was merely pointing out that the car stores the cause of the last 2 or 3 alarm activations, not just the last one.

Hi did you ever get to the problem with your alarm, I feel I am suffering a similar issue. As have also replaced the siren already. Thanks

13 hours ago, smaz92 said:

Hi did you ever get to the problem with your alarm, I feel I am suffering a similar issue. As have also replaced the siren already. Thanks

 

Hello, yes I did.....and it took 30 minutes. The previous garage that had installed the new alarm did not bother to update the software after installing the new alarm. The new place where I took the car spotted this immediately through the error code that the VAG/VCDS produced. They updated the software immediately and thank goodness, no problems since then!

Updated the software? I thought repalcing the siren was a direct replacement, haven’t herd of anyone else having to have an update to reset the new alarm siren installed.

  

On 03/11/2016 at 13:45, Stuart-h said:

mine done it.
Daft question is the door warning light on th dash still on when you lock the door at all? If it is its a good catch that the door lock / handle isn't quiet completeing the circuit. Every time you lock the car it thinks there is a door that's open and will sound the alarm.

hello stu yes this happens with mine causing it to sound alarm i have replaced the door lock with brand new one could it be a faulty unit or wiring loom please help.

45 minutes ago, albadouche said:

hello stu yes this happens with mine causing it to sound alarm i have replaced the door lock with brand new one could it be a faulty unit or wiring loom please help.

I'm not sure. Think it'll be a bit of trial and error!