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Tow away alarm, red light stays on

37K views 46 replies 15 participants last post by  ichris93 
#1 ·
hi everyone,

my car is siting in the driveway and the alarm sounds, i use the keyfab and it stops. then i notice the tow away button red light is on solid. then about 10 min later the alarm sounds again? i cant turn off the solid red light on the tow away button and alarm keeps going off every 10min. so i pull the batterycable and call it a night:confused: any ideas what why:hail:
 
#8 ·
so i opened the trunk and found the PSE pulled it from that foam cover and found a few drops of water not sure where it came from. left it out of the foam and just sitting in the trunk till i make sure its dry.

i tried to get to the alarm horn but cant get windshied wipers off??? screw cam off but they dont budge??? i assume you need to take them off to get to the horn to replace battery? gave up on that till get further info put it all together again except for the pse just sitting in trunk for now.

hook up car battery again after removing it to shut up the alarm and now the tow alarm red solid light is off but now i am getting a ESP/BAS error light in the dash and esp bypass wont do anything:confused:

also my stock radio was asking me for a code and i got car used and have no idea what code is? so i entered 1111 and now it just says wait:soap:
so like i said i just opened a can of worms think its time to take it in to mechanic not sure what else i can screw up:soap:
relax bro!!
you will need a tool to properly remove the wipers. no big deal. any auto parts house
bas/esp lite . eazy peazy! turn the steering wheel lock to lock left then right then back to center. lite goes out.
radio code. bigger problem. if you dont have the code you have to go to the dealer with the vin to get it. the wait signal will go out after 20 mins. then enter the proper code and set it.

if you have the owners manual and case there should be a card in the face of the booklet holder (like a credit card) with the radio code. its a 5 digit code
 
#9 ·
relax bro!!
you will need a tool to properly remove the wipers. no big deal. any auto parts house
bas/esp lite . eazy peazy! turn the steering wheel lock to lock left then right then back to center. lite goes out.
radio code. bigger problem. if you dont have the code you have to go to the dealer with the vin to get it. the wait signal will go out after 20 mins. then enter the proper code and set it.

if you have the owners manual and case there should be a card in the face of the booklet holder (like a credit card) with the radio code. its a 5 digit code
Thanks you have been such a huge help:rb
i will try the steering trick tomarrow to remove the error light. what is the wiper removal tool called, is it called a wiper removal tool:confused: as for the radio i have almost everything except that code card i did find a dealers card with some numbers written on back, no i couldnt be that lucky anyway would have run into these things sooner than later :tu:

I guess its all about getting to know my car better,sorry for all the basic questions but when it comes to working on cars im not the sharpest tool in the shed:rockon:
 
#7 ·
IIRC on the R170 radio (from reading prior posts) may take some time before it is accepted (up to 1 hour, may be even longer).
 
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#10 ·
Update:

just did the turning wheel left to right worked! Now ESP is back to normal. I lucked out with the radio number on back of dealers business card was the magic number radio is back. Still have the solid red light on the tow alarm? If I replace battery in horn near wipers will this solve alarm problem? For now till I get a chance to pull off wipers will try locking the car and not setting alarm to avoid going off every 10 min

thanks for all the help!
 
#12 ·
Thanks! Yesterday car sits all day locked manualu no alarm set, at 7pm alarm goes off again? Disconnected battery to **** it up.

Went to Keagan auto parts to look for a wiper blade remover and they have no idea what one is,and I'm not sure what tool to remove wipers to replace battery in horn?

Thanks again
 
#14 ·
Update :

so I found the wiper pulled me and good ol wd40 what a pain in the a-- got one off that way the other I used a puller borrowed from my dad. I went to mechanic and tol him about the alarm and he pointed me in the same direction the horn as the culprit. So after pulling out the horn not sure if it's worth putting back?

You need a tiny tool to take the horn apart I don't have what kind of battery is it a weird obscure german one?

Again thanks

the tow alarm red light was out I drove the car all seemed good after pulling the horn it's back on solid?
 
#19 ·
These look like 6 x 1.2 Volts, Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) rechargeable batteries, soldered together to give the 7.2V. Don't know if it's possible to get a similar assembled battery, or you would have to buy the batteries and solder them. You would probably have to cut the wrapper to be able to see what's inside!
 
#25 ·
I guess there's nothing stopping you from adding one more cell to the pack you found on ebay, but my concern would be how to stick the additional battery. Not sure if they only use the heat shrinking wrapping to keep these batteries close together or some sort of soldering. Regular solder doesn't stick to the metal casing of these batteries.
 
#26 ·
tow light on

hey guys , sorry to revive this thread... but I was browsing because I have the same problem. last night my neighbor banged on the door to tell me the lights were flashing in my car... but no sound! i've never noticed it before ! maybe a coincidence but it snowed on it that night... I also had the tires replaced the week before. I would assume the battery for the alarm is dead, maybe that's why the light is on all the time on the switch. so I guess step one would be to find a new battery. the next question or problem would be why is the lights/alarm going off constantly ? not sure if this is a cause an effect... and for the system to work right it needs a good battery ???? any info would be appreciated... for now i'm going to try to find out where the battery is located...

thank you!
 
#27 ·
it appears, I can't pm the OP because I don't have 15 posts!! so please if someone sees this can you please ask the OP to reply... My wife is on my butt to get this problem fixed and she wants me to take it to the dealer... I don't think I have the $$ to do that..
I'd rather try to fix it myself..

Thank you!
 
#28 ·
rdinky1,

If you wish to become PM (Private Message) - capable, you need 15 posts. To get those 15 posts quickly, just go to the ‘New members introduce yourself here’ section and welcome enough new members to obtain your needed posts to PM.
 
#29 ·
original poster was here 6 days ago and will reply when he returns to visit us. just pm'ing someone does not mean they will return more promptly
 
#30 ·
I just pm'd him to make sure he noticed... I was not sure he'd revisit this thread..since the last time this thread had a post was in 2010...anyhow! thank you for the reply and info!

in the mean time .. is there a place to find pictures of the alarm horn / battery in the previous post and how to get to it without breaking anything ?

since it's not working I need to get it tested anyways... thanks!
 
#31 ·
you saw your other post with the link to components right?
 
#32 ·
#34 ·
Yay!!! send $$$ LOL!!
 
#35 ·
#37 ·
Hello,
Sorry to revist this again but I am wondering if your red light on the central locking switch ever went off. Mine is on on my 2000 slk 230 sport and when you lock the car the alarm will go off in a few minutes. Also once it is locked the little red light flashes. Is there a way to just disable the alarm function all together? I dont need an alarm on a 13 year old car haha.
 
#38 ·
skier518,

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