P1 factory alarm, and the saga of the Police station Antenna.

[wilky]

This is an old problem, but its the first time Ive encountered it. Just a word of warning to those who dont know or who perhapes are ignorant.

As some of you know The Leggy estate is experiencing an electrical drama so my friend Steve Whitson who is helping me with it kindly loaned me his P1 on a "If you like it Ill do you a deal we both dont understand" basis.

Out in the car with my new found girlfriend we went Xmas shopping at McArthur Glen, and I parked in the carpark overlooked by the Police Station radio mast.

Got out the car, alarm fails to function. "Thats odd!" I think and locks the car manually doing a very good impersonation of a man switching an alarm on as I walked away.

Got back a couple of hours later and unlocked the car manually. Alarm wont work. Car imobilised. Its freezing cold and the Burd is feeling chilly. Windows steam up.

The Wilky rage starts building inside me and Im ready to start acting like Dark Man.the voice in my head says "Your with the new Gilfriend Callum, play the whiteman"

I we go back inside, grab a hot chocolate and I call Steve, he says its a common subaru alarm fault am I near a police station, fire station ambulance station or radio mast?" then I remeber all the posts on here and SN years ago.

Called the RAC and the nice man towed me 200m down the road behind a building where the alarm was screened from the tower of Livingston police station and the car worked first go. Cheers RAC man!!!!

So if you have one of these year cars with an alarm, just watch where you park, lol.

 

Callum W

[kennyf]

Its not just subaru its because the RF from the mast swamps the immediate area and basically over powers the signal sent from the fob.

[st3ph3n]

Was there possibly a fix for cramming the remote under the wheel arch?

Or perhaps wrapping your head in tinfoil, spinning round 3 times whilst singing "I was a male stripper in a go go bar"?

[spooks]

its all older Sigma alarms that are effected, cant take my car to Livingston for that reason. There is an updated alarm control unit available from Subaru at a huge price.

Its a PITA, possibly wrapping the control unit in tin foil could help but unsure

[marky.t.s]

I had same problem with Sigma system on my 00MY uk turbo,Cumbernauld town centre has a rooftop full of telecoms masts,you just have to remove key from ignition,put the 4 digit pin nr. into the key pad,close door ,alarm will peep several times,lock door manualy ,car is now immobilised.

On returning to car,unlock door manualy,alarm will sound,put in 4 digit pin.,alarm turns off,start car as normal.A bit of a pain i know but at least you know your cars safe when you walk away.

Cheers,

Mark.

edit-i believe the drivers door has to be open before putting in pin nr.

[Grimmy]

Ditto Marky!

[wilky]

Was there possibly a fix for cramming the remote under the wheel arch?

Or perhaps wrapping your head in tinfoil, spinning round 3 times whilst singing "I was a male stripper in a go go bar"?

I havent told her about my problem with high energy dance music yet. I suspect she would have exited stage left if I had tried that one, lol.

However she does like Rhino Bucket, which is a bonus.

Callum

[maxpower]

Happened to me a while ago with my MY00 at Tesco in Cumbernauld due to the antena arrays on the town centre, had to wait for a bust to pass in front of me and hey presto the key fob worked again. Found out I could only park safely at the side of the Tesco building where the car was sheltered from the radio signals!!

 

 

[ANDYJDMSTI]

Was there possibly a fix for cramming the remote under the wheel arch?

Or perhaps wrapping your head in tinfoil, spinning round 3 times whilst singing "I was a male stripper in a go go bar"?

However she does like Rhino Bucket, which is a bonus.

Callum

 

A big brucey bonus indeed............at least she has taste in something!  []

[cullenmin]

Mine is the same, MY00, got stuck first time I went to fill up with go go juice at Shell garage in Kirkcaldy, 3 of the B*****D masts right beside it, just have to watch where you stop your engine I suppose

Rich

[thefastone]

Yeah pretty common problem like theres a number of places in aberdeen that is affected, and At my folks hous a meter or so iss all it take to render it useless....

also I think that it only affects cars up untill 2002?

Was looking into it and I think the screened alarm/imobiliser unit is somehting like £70 sheets from scoobaru.... cant begin to tell you just how peesed off I'm getting with it now like....

but waht also gets my goat, is that its a common problem, but they dont think to tell you before you drive away, i found out 20 minutes or less from driving off the forecourt...

Grrr....

(NB: useing IE7 so no smilies for Dale...)

[darryl_martin]

Happened a couple of times with mine. First time thought it must be the batteries in the fob so went and bought some more and it worked first time. From then on kept a new set of batteries in the car and that did the job. Just had to open the door and set the alarm off to get to them!!! But at least I got the car started[].  Same story with scoobaru, " it's a recognised fault so we'll give you the alarm free([]) then its ONLY £xx to fit it[:@][:@]"

Have memorised the keypad number now[Y]

[scoobyseller555]

you can still get a veridium plate from subaru which basically acts as a shield so the radio waves dont interfere with the alarm.

Gav

.......and if anyone is missing the pin number the original can be sourced via the dealer aswell.

[wilky]

Cheers Gav.

[Guest]

lol

and who said your car is safe when u park next to a police station!!

[westtra]

where can I find the pin number?

[scoobyseller555]

if you dont have the small foil sticker with it on,give your local dealer a phone and they will get it for you.

Gav

[GaryD]

When we got our car it never came with the pin number.

Can a just phone up the dealer and ask for it, or do I need to prove that the car is defo mine and hasnt been nicked?

[scoobyseller555]

yes you will be asked to prove that the vehicle is yours,we ask for v5 and some other form of i.d

Gav