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Where's the alarm ECU on late model 80?
- Thread starter Chris
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Trouble is Chris they might not have followed the book. With my Scorpion alarm they had not adjusted the bonnet switch contacts correctly. Perhaps you could check yours as my alarm would intermittently go off. I talked to the man who designed the system and he said many were unreliable due to poor fitting. Apart from my switch my Scorpion 5000 is still perfect.
Frank, sometimes it's best to look for the obvious first before jumping to more radical conclusions. Firstly the installation looks perfect and secondly, here's the glass breakage sensor. Maybe you can spot what's wrong?
Dunno if someone kept a pet rat in the car, but there is no sign of the sensor at all. The strands of the cable were touching.
Dunno if someone kept a pet rat in the car, but there is no sign of the sensor at all. The strands of the cable were touching.
So boys. Played around with it some more today and it's still not right. I decided to go back to bare with this. I followed the installation manual in reverse and unplugged every connection. OK I left the cables in situ; I'm not mad. I disconnected the battery and all of the boxes and siren. I then did a reinstall from scratch following all the guidance. I put it into test mode and ran the test sequence. It passed every test except the glass breakage of course. Every door trigger the correct response, every press of the buttons did the right thing. Then I went live ....
For a while it seemed to behave. The sounder sounded and stopped (once) on the blipper. But then it went back to its tricks. I had to pack the inner wing with one of those industrial blue hand towel rolls to silence the siren. I'd have had the noise police round otherwise. The alarm functioned perfectly in terms of doors and so on, I just couldn't shut the siren up.
In the end I unplugged it. Without it, the whole system work perfectly btw TP it also silences on the key now, yay! Switch 7.
Plug it back in and its nuts. So I pulled the unit open again and unplugged the power pack lead from the PCB. Once plugged back into the loom, the alarm functions 100%. But of course there's no siren, just the relays and speaker going tick tick tick. All the lights flash and do what they should, it can be cancelled and here's the test, if you set it, then open a door with the key so that it triggers then shut the door and leave it to stop, it resets and goes again if you open the door.
So it's just the siren that has a mind of its own. Clearly removing the remains of the glass sensor has stopped it triggering on its own. That's a relief. But I think I need a spare siren to test it with. The PCB all looks fine with no damage or corrosion at all. It was just the battery pack that had fallen to bits. You'd think that replacing those would have sorted it.
For a while it seemed to behave. The sounder sounded and stopped (once) on the blipper. But then it went back to its tricks. I had to pack the inner wing with one of those industrial blue hand towel rolls to silence the siren. I'd have had the noise police round otherwise. The alarm functioned perfectly in terms of doors and so on, I just couldn't shut the siren up.
In the end I unplugged it. Without it, the whole system work perfectly btw TP it also silences on the key now, yay! Switch 7.
Plug it back in and its nuts. So I pulled the unit open again and unplugged the power pack lead from the PCB. Once plugged back into the loom, the alarm functions 100%. But of course there's no siren, just the relays and speaker going tick tick tick. All the lights flash and do what they should, it can be cancelled and here's the test, if you set it, then open a door with the key so that it triggers then shut the door and leave it to stop, it resets and goes again if you open the door.
So it's just the siren that has a mind of its own. Clearly removing the remains of the glass sensor has stopped it triggering on its own. That's a relief. But I think I need a spare siren to test it with. The PCB all looks fine with no damage or corrosion at all. It was just the battery pack that had fallen to bits. You'd think that replacing those would have sorted it.
Towpack
Well-Known Member
You could take a chance Chris and buy a "good" used one from the same era as I did. They're still available and cheap enough...eg. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/272431992915?clk_rvr_id=1117366308292&rmvSB=true....
I did just this a couple of years ago when mine failed due to water ingress. The existing batteries on the replacement were dead, as most will be due to age unless they've been changed out. The wiring seems to be generic on these systems....almost. Same number of wires and colour codes but just arranged in the plug differently which a bit of pin swapping fixed. Mine wasn't giving false alarms, just that the sounder itself was dead.
I did just this a couple of years ago when mine failed due to water ingress. The existing batteries on the replacement were dead, as most will be due to age unless they've been changed out. The wiring seems to be generic on these systems....almost. Same number of wires and colour codes but just arranged in the plug differently which a bit of pin swapping fixed. Mine wasn't giving false alarms, just that the sounder itself was dead.
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I have one of those already TP. Took it out of another 80. Yes completely different plug and very much a different number of wires too. However, there might be a mother board similarity in there and as you say a bit of swapsy here and there might make a good un. It seems the ECU is sending the correct signal and the board is turning that into pulses of some sort. I am going to have a look inside both and see if I can graft one into the other. But, I also am on the look out for a more direct replacement even a loan of one to see if it's a cure
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I have a spare working siren for a Scorpion 5000. It has "toyota" on it. I don't know if it's the same or not. Doesn't your siren have a keyhole where a small key goes in to turn it off when you're working on it? Should have. This one does.
No Frank it doesn't. My spare old one does have that, but this system is fitted deep inside the wing where you simply couldn't get to a key. I read on a RAV forum just now that it's most likely a Scorpion alarm branded TVSS. I'll put a piccy up and serial number tomorrow when it's light. Found a pic on Google images just now. But nothing on ebay for say matches it yet.
Yet taken the old mark I alarm to bits. Don[t think it's going to be much help
Yet taken the old mark I alarm to bits. Don[t think it's going to be much help
Towpack
Well-Known Member
How many wires has your sounder ? When I was looking for a replacement I found several on ebay, all from various Toyota models of a similar age and all had the same number of wires and colour codes but varying plug configurations. If I recall correctly there were 5 wires. A permanaent pos and neg, a switched pos, a trigger wire and a 5th wire I can't remember the function of. The PCB and the connections inside my old one and the replacement were identical. Strange that your spare from another 80 doesn't have the same connections if they are both TVSS3B variants.
Well thanks to Gary (Whadda guy) and some parts from his magnificent 80, my TVSS alarm would seem to be 100%. I guess there must've been a gremlin in the PCB in the siren. All connected, glass detector plugged in and it sets and unsets perfectly and triggers and silences every time on the key or the bipper.
Fantastic.
Fantastic.
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Well done Chris. That's 2 alarms fixed in 1 week.
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No not Clive, Chris spotted that.
