94 Ls 400 Alarm, Cleaned Courtesy Switches/trunk Harnass Help!

djbrett · June 8, 2008

OK. Here's the situation. Proud owner of a 94 LS 400 with 150k on it. Runs like a dream (of course). Ever since I got it, it has had a few problems. The largest and most frustrating is that the alarm keeps going off at random times. I have cleaned the courtesy switches, which seemed to work fine before and after (I just wanted to make sure before bringing it to the experts), I have checked the left trunk hinge wiring harnass, and all seems to be ok.

Now for other things that may or may not be related. The security light seems to only want to come on when it feels like it. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. I've noticed the alarm going off after the light has come on and when it has failed to come on.

I replaced a front driver door handle (it was broken). Afterwards, the door will sometimes not latch properly when I open it from the inside. If I pull up on the handle from the outside after this, it seems to be fine. I looked at it and it seems part of the innerdoor hardware does not properly spring back into place when opened from the inside. I doubt this is related as the alarm has been like this since the day I bought the vehicle.

The trunk lock cylinder does not work. I've pulled the cylinder and I don't think the key is going all the way in. I have 2 master keys and 1 valet key, and the master keys do not go in as far as they do in the lock cylinders in the door. I would not worry about this as the inner release works like a dream, but I am a little nervous that it will fail someday, and I will not have a backup plan.

I guess I'm going to try to figure out where the trunk and hood sensors are and see if they seem to be working fine.

Any ideas would be welcome.

Thanks,

Brett

djbrett · June 8, 2008

The trunk sensor seems to be working fine. The light comes on/goes off immediately when the plunger thingy goes down and the circuit is interupted. I'm guessing the sensor for the hood is in the latch itself as there seems to be a wire connected to the backside of the unit. Not really sure I want to take it off and check. Is it worth it(easy and a possible cause of the alarm malfunctions)to pull the latch off? Is it just the two bolts?

PS one of the minor problems my car has had since I bought it was the airbag light. I would like to thank lexls for the tutorials. It took about 3 min to correct that, and the light has been on for a year.