One thing to remember - to avoid confusion - is that the CPU beeps at you if you have the door open with the ignition key in or the lights on.

For example, if your door lock switch is inoperative, you go and lock it and the beeping continues because the CPU doesn't know you're arming the system.

Keep it simple. We'll focus on arming the system from the driver's door after a drive. Your hood and hatch are closed. Your passenger door is locked.

Take the key out of the ignition and make sure your lights are off. You should hear no beeping at all. Roll down the window. Open the door, lock from inside (you should hear a beep because this is the last door locked), close the door (obviously holding the outisde handle).

Then, as stated by Apexonyou "once the door shuts, the light stays solid for about 10 seconds, then starts flashing fast for about 5 seconds, then gives one last solid flash with a beep. It is then armed. So basically, for those first 10-15 seconds, it isn't armed." If you get inside the car without a key, the system sounds the horn and your starter won't operate (if you reach over to the ignition through the open window - make sure you're in neutral with parking brake set).

Check out chapter "Body Electrical" page 111-113 in the S4 FSM. Make sure your hood pin(s) work, and (the easy way to check) your interior light turns on when you open the hatch or door(s) - also the idiot lights.

If (a) you have problems with the interior light not turning on when it is supposed to; (b) idiot lights don't tell you when you open a door or hatch' (c) your key in door open chime or (d) lights left on chime aren't functioning properly, your CPU may need resoldering or switches aren't working.

P.S. It's amazing the confusion and time it sometimes takes to get accurate answers (yes, some posts above were dead on) because of people just posting when they're not sure. I'm going to bed now...good night all!

well, the hatch light comes on when the hatch is opened and goes off when the hatch is shut. must be ok there. now for the hood switch. where is it located? i looked today briefly and did not see what i was thinking it may look like(pin switch with a black accordian style boot). i'll have to locate that and clean it. my dome light doesn't work due to a bad solder joint on one of the prongs where the dome light bulb would clip in

The hood switch is built into the actual latch on the body side. Keep us updated...

well, i removed and cleaned the switch in the hood latch assembly. still it wasnt working. so, i decided to try and figure out the position of the switch that tells the alarm ecu that the hood is closed and that all is good. it appears that the switch must be in the up position. so, i bent the arm that makes contact with the switch so that the switch would be in the up position at all times. still it didnt work. the alarm did not set. it didnt set until after i locked the driver's door with the hood up and clicked the switch down and released it. then everything worked as it should. replacing the arm in the up position, not touching the switch resulted in the same condition with me having to keep the hood up and manually depressing the swich once before the alarm would set. i dont know the proper position of the arm in association with the switch is. its very confusing as to why i have to press the switch for the alarm to set.

do you guys think that the switch has gone bad? is there a way to bypass the hood switch and have the alarm still function normally?

So wait...are you getting any beeps?

I keep getting repetitive beeps when I try to arm mine :(

no beeps until i manually depress the hood switch manually with the hood open.

any other thoughts on this?

I'm confused...I definitely remember posting after I read post #33. Anyways, unplug the wire to the hood switch and ground the wire on the harness side with some wire and a terminal. When grounded, the theft system thinks you have your hood closed.

JPK3200 - the multiple beeps is the unit telling you there's a problem (likely with a switch. Check out the FSM (in my sig.), Body Electrical Chapter, Theft Deterrent Unit. There's a complete troubleshooting section on it.

ok, i'll ground it and post back with the results!

should i ground both wires or just one? i was thinking just one. i have spare connectors via a spare wiring harness, so i can de-pin a wire from the connector and just plug the connectors together and ground the appropriate wire or both wires as required.

See pic...

1. Check the connection to ground between the switch and ground.

1.a. Unplug the latch swich, hook up a multimeter, and make sure there's continuity when the hood is closed (you'll have to be creative for this - maybe use a rod to push the mechanism down).

2. If all else fails, bypass the hood switch. Ground the wire shown. I never cut wires, so I would unplug and get a crimp-on terminal, some wire and a ring terminal to make the ground.

Finally, I got the system to work! It turns out that I had a bad hood switch. Thanks for all your help guys!

How come my alarms in both of my 7's have randomly gone off with no one obviusly near them?

I know how to arm it and always do but they have both gone off randomly it seems.

what i'm going to do is use another two pin connector from another rx-7 harness and plug it into the harness side and ground both wires. that should solve the problem.

OK guys sorry for brining this back from the dead, but I can’t find an answer for my problem.

Before I begin, I have gotten the alarm to set properly in the past, but that was back in July, and it only happened like twice. I have recently put in a new main board for my CPU from Mazatrix, so I doubt that is the problem.

According to the FSM, by turning the driver’s and passenger’s side key lock to the unlock position an holding it, the security light lights up and stays lit until I turn it back. Both of these work. The same goes for the hatch when I unlock it from the outside.

Of course for testing the hatch and hood, the light should only flash. When I pull the hatch release cable, it works as such, but the hood doesn’t. The light stays on until I close the hood again. This means that the hood switch is bad right? Well I thought so, but I pulled the switch out and tested it according to the FSM, and it checked out good.

When the light does not go out and I try to arm it after shutting the hood, the system beeps repeatedly and the security light flashes. I do know how to arm the system.

I tried unplugging the switch and grounding it, making it think the hood is shut. Well, the system did think the hood was shut because the light went out, but I still couldn’t get it to arm.

Like I said, the hood switch does test out according to the FSM, but when I open the hood, the security light stays on instead of flashing once. Could there be something else wrong with the switch? If need be, could I order another one from OMRON instead of having to buy an new latch assembly?

Your hood switch is most probably fine. Follow the FSM (body electrical chapter I believe - link in my sig.) security system troubleshooting section. Try all the locks from the inside and outside. Using the key on the doors should light up the light when against unlock stop and go off in the center. The last of the door, hood, or hatch locked/closed from the inside should cause the system to beep once - try this with someone sitting inside to listen for the beep.

Keep in mind that on the doors you have the cylinder position switches and also the door open switches.

Worst case scenario, you'll have to bypass each switch at a time until you find the culprit, maybe even multiple switches.

didnt read through the whole thread but did anyone say it may be cause the door trigger for the dome light and alarm

I tested all the other switches that pertain to the system, and they all work according to the Theft Deterrent System section of the Body Electrical chapter of the FSM.

You guys wouldn't happen to have the part number from OMRON for the hood switch would you? I would just go out there and look at mine, but I won't be near my car for at least a week. It would be a shame to have to buy a whole new hood latch assembly from someone for just the switch.

Could this system cause my car not to start yet not ever go into alarm? Just 2 days ago, I drive the car about 25 miles, made a stop and shut off the car, I did not lock it. then went to another store to pick up an item, once again not locking the car, made my last stop, locking the car due to package and when i came out, the car would not start, just the click, opened hood , looked around, tryed many times but just get the click, then let it set for a few minutes, maybe 5, the wife tryed it and it started up, drove home, parked, shut it off , tryed to start, click , nothing, left it till morning, went out, started right up, drove around for 10 minutes, went home, shut it off, click wont start, left it alone, this afternoon checked battery connections and cleaned, started right up, went to store and had to walk home, *%#@$.... car still sitting there, anyway i locked it to leave it there and i dont hear the usual chirp or see my light flash, which always did before, I'm Stumped, thanks for any help
btw, its an 88' vert

thats what mine used to do, lately its been acting up. it rarely comes on now and twice in the past day or so, the horn started spazzing out and my lights were flashing. now, ive heard the factory alarm go off, it wasnt like this. the horn would stay on and every now and than stop and than continue. the intervals were random

i never got the problem solved. grounded the wires and i still have the same problem

Are you getting one beep and solid security lamp or multiple beeps and flashing lamp?

I've noticed that I can get mine to arm every time as long as I don't open the passenger door after driving. If I do, it will arm about 50% of the time. One of these days I'm gonna take a look at the door switches.

i'm getting no activation of the alarm what so ever. the cause i beleive is the hood switch for the alarm.

Are you getting a solid light on the security lamp when you pull the hood release, or a flash of the lamp, or nothing?