jpjacura

Hi
I just purchased a 1998 Acura 3.5 RL. It is a special edition but not sure what exactly that includes. Anyway, when I bought the car the shifter wouldn't move out of park. Luckily, reading thru the forums I found that the fuse for the horn and brake lights was probably out. Great, I fixed that. Well today I get up and the fuse is blown again. So I put a new fuse it and assume the horn or brake lights are blowing it. It was the horn, so I disconnected that. But now I am assuming that my alarm must be tripping at times, otherwise the fuse wouldn't be blowing. Has anyone had a problem with the alarm radomly going off? Can you disconnected the alarm and still have keyless entry? Any help would be appreciated. thanks

3.5RLBgRu

you know to move the shifter out of park, you have to push it down so u can shift. maybe that is the problem. good luck

jpjacura

yeah it was definetely the blown fuse making it not work. but the alarm keeps going off for no reason...i need to disconnect it or figure out what is wrong...any suggestions?

98RL35

I am having the same exact problem. The only way I have around it is to leave the car unlocked so the alarm doesn't arm. Generally anywhere from 30 seconds to 8 hours after I arm the alarm, it goes off by itself. I also had the same problem with the shifter, it was the blown fuse as well. My horn also is firing at half power, sounds weak, so I put a meter on it and it was reading okay. I would be very interested in what is causing it? How to disable the alarm system altogether? If I find anything out I will post it.

Davids71

So you say you just bought this car? I need a little more info before I can help you. First I want to make sure that when that fuse blew that you replaced it with the right amparage. You shoul've replaced it with a 15 amp fuse (fuse # 39) To answer your question, no you can't disable the alarm and still have keyless entry, your rl has an integrated system. How about a little history on the car, has it been wrecked? do you actually hear your alarm go off by itself? give me as much info related to the problem as you can and I will try to help you the best I can. When does the alarm go off?

DesyrRL

I'm having an alarm problem as well. It is really annoying now. I have a 98 RL and i've had it since 2005. I also got a remote start from best buy in December 05. Recently, (bout a month) my alarm just keeps going off by itself. I thought it was the remote start & took it to best buy, the guy claims nothing is wrong with the remote start. I am so clueless and it's starting to getting on my nerves. The bad thing is that i can't tell when it will go off & whoever needs to fix it will want to actually recreate the situation.
Please Please help me......

2000RL

Do you park your car outside? Acura has a Service Bulletin
"B98-028" issued in OCT/2001 that might apply here. The problem is poor sealing on the windshield pillars allows water to seep down in to the connectors for the under-dash fuse/relay box, drivers multiplex control unit or door locks causing intermittent electrical problems (like alarm system setting intermittently.)

DesyrRL

I googled to see if i can find this bulletin but i did not find anything. What can i do because my neighbours are also tired of the noise. I won't doubt the fact that water might be sipping through cos water from rain & snow sips into my trunk & my car. I have to use strong air freshener in the car or else the smell will take over.

TickingTimebomb

Hello! My girlfriend and I own an Acura Legend. A few nights ago, the alarm/horn went off at approx. 1A.M. and this is no honk, honk, honk type thing... Its a HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!! It went off again a half hour later. Then @ 2. Then at 3! The only way we could seem to get the thing shut off was to start the car. After the 2nd try however, not even that was working. This car's alarm is supposed to shut off when unlocking. An old mechanic friend told us to try unlocking the passenger side door because the drivers side may be shot or the car isn't recognizing its the owner of the vehicle. Well this didn't work either. fourth time it goes off, the cops come out and we just unhook the battery. But the next day we had a jump start and then alarm was fine. Then at 3 in the morning, it goes off again! We're losing sleep! We've got a business to run, I've got a side job to pay expenses, we have errands to get done and now this is happening to us! Someone please help. There has got to be another way to keep this thing at bay other than being without a car at all. Thanks! -Tom A.K.A. Timebomb

rlsullivanjr

I had the same problem with a 96 RL a few years ago. The solution I found in this forum was to disconnect the alarm under the hood, then put a paper clip into the female end to keep the circuit closed. It fools the alarm system into thinking that the car is not locked. You loose the alarm function, but you no longer loose sleep. Been working for 2-4 years now. Good luck.

targeting

Frankly I've had it with mine and am getting rid of it. My alarm (2003 TL) started to go off soon after I bought it. I asked the dealer to fix it and he said there was no fix, so I asked for the alarm to be disconnected and he said they would do that (Hoehn Acura). Imagine my surprise when it went off again--always with no provocation, e.g., sitting in my garage). I asked what's the deal and he said that disconnecting was just too difficult because of the complications of the wire harness. Now at 60,000 miles it has become a problem just like all the other people here say. That on top of the transmission problem makes me say good-bye Hondaville.

pmendoza502

check your hood latch sensors, and try using a jumper cable to see if that helps....

beta5237

OMG! I had the same exact problem as most of you guys here and FINALLY gotten it fixed. I have a 2002 RL and my alarm was randomly going off when locked. I had to keep my car unlocked to save my neighbor's and my sanity. I had to go to 2 dealers to finally fix it. The first dealer took apart all four doors and ended up removing a relay under the hood and greasing some connector in the driver door. He said the cause was water leakage in the driver door and circuits. By removing the relay, the horn will not sound even if the alarm goes off. He also said that it could be the driver door lock assembly and I might need that replaced. Lots and lots of money. So that's $175 to bad guessing. WRONG! The alarm goes off THAT night I get it back. The horn? Yep, LOUD AS #%&%! So I put up with leaving the door unlocked and lowering my insurance deductible. Eventually, the realization that leaving a RL unlocked around NYC was a pretty bad idea I ended up going to another dealer. I showed them that Acura Service Bulletin B98-028. Not the problem. The guys there ended up finding that the hood latch sensor was not reading any current and the hood was not closing correctly. They had to replace the entire hood latch assembly. I just got the problem fixed last week for $280 and so far the past week there has not been a sound. My neighbors are VERY happily sleeping and so am I.

Milosh

I'm having a similar problem. It started by alarm going off, but then I've noticed, that the left rear door safety indicator (in the gauge assembly) sometimes lights when the left rear door is closed. It seems that while the car is locked and alarm activated, the car gets an impression that the door is opened.
I've looked inside the door, checked the switch and the connector, all seems OK. The safety indicator however signalized opened door regardless the connector was unplugged or the appropriate pins were shorted together.
I have also tested the multiplex control unit in mode 1 and 2, but no errors. The unit detects the left rear door opening correctly.
I've noticed that when the left rear door is closed, the indicator becomes darker, but doesn't switch off. This problem occurs only if the temperature drops very low (almost freezing). The alarm doesn't allow me to lock the car remotelly. I have to lock it manually by the key, which doesn't activate the alarm.
It seems like a problem with grounds or supply voltages, doesn't it ? What do you suggest to measure ?

honda_pwr

I had that same exact issue. It is one or both horns creating a short in the circuit. Replaced them a year ago, never had that issue since then. Apperantley its a common issue for these cars.

Good Luck!
Mike