MakoDHardie

I had a crapped out TNS relay earlier this week that I took care of. The problem that jumped on board with that was that the alarm system set the headlight motor function off when I pulled the TNS relay to replace it. The motors went off non stop and the only way I got them to stop was to disconnect the battery for an extended period of time. Then I could put the terminal back on and they'd be fine until I used the headlights for the first time. Then the motors would start running again like it was a field day event and not stop unless I turned the lights on and back off. The number of times the car tries to play this game varies, but it usually doesn't end until I pull the battery terminal again. Its really a pain when I park the car and know that the motors will start running once I walk inside. They do not stop until I do something about them. Is there a relay for the stock alarm that I could try replacing? I've checked all my fuses and they are fine. The relays are the questionable things, but I don't know where to start and I gave up on messing around with them. I know you can cut a disarm wire in the driver's side kick panel, but I can't even figure out which one that is. I'd rather replace a relay than cut a wire, but if it comes down to it, I'd need to know which one to go after. This is really irritating, as nothing is really broken, the car is just acting like a kid that needs to have his *** whooped. I tried searching and there's indirect information on this but all the leads I tried to follow didn't help out. Please let me know if anyone has fixed this problem before. I'm leaving first thing in the morning for Indy and I don't want to deal with headlight malfunctions the whole way over.
Thanks,
-Dave

SBi_Owner

I don't really know if it will work, but the antitheft light control is pin 2H on the #2CPU. You might loose the headlight relay all together so use this info at your own risk. This will not disarm the security system, and I can't give out that information so don't ask.

Adam

MakoDHardie

I know how to kill an alarm, but I don't want to miss if I try to cut something since this is my car. I just can't tell which is the #2 ECU on that side, let alone which thing to pull.

finnicky7

Anyone else got any info on this.

MakoDHardie

I took my car into a shop that works on high end cars and has a good reputation with not screwing up and doing things quickly and for reasonable money. I dropped it off Friday morning and they called me back that afternoon and said that the relays in the box that's mounted on the front cross member were all corroded. I didn't even check this because I had just replaced one of the relays weeks earlier and I didn't see any reason why they would all be going nuts now. I've got my relay box mounted upside down because I have a vmount on my car and the intercooler requires relocating the relays to underneath the crossmember that it normally sits on. I guess rain and hose water seeps into the box when I wash the car and drive it in the rain. I get the car back on Monday and I'm going to try to figure something out to seal that relay box off from water. I had thought that it was a wiring problem before, but check your relays because it could simply be that. BTW, if you can inspect them and check for resistance, it'd be helpful since the things are like $18 a piece from Mazda, and I'm not sure that's list price either.

PVerdieck

Holy crap! I'd better look into that...

MakoDHardie

The relays are deffinitely something you should check out. I was fooled by them thinking it was a bunch of crazy wire shorts around the positive battery terminal or something, but it was just the relays going nuts. Aside from the lighting and accessories getting messed up, your fuel pump relay is also in the same box so give that some attention too. My TNS and retractor relays were real messed up and the TNS that was in there was brand new relay that I had just replaced. The shop is replacing the TNS, retractor, and fuel pump relay for me tomorrow and then they left the other accessories alone since they weren't too badly corroded and are not as important to have. I believe there's power steering, AC, and a radio relay or something. I haven't had problems with any of them so I'm not too worried.

finnicky7

Good post thanks!

namasan

Just installed my Vmount and my headlights are possessed. Dash lights and gauges weren't working. Only the headlights would turn on and go ballistic. Hope it's just the relays.

Jack

iTrader: (2)

I have a simular problem, when I get into the car hard, the headlight's will briefly go up and down, sometimes this will trigger the alarm. Which means, I have to pull over get out of my car and turn the alarm off. I have been chasing this problem for 2 months and still can't figure it out. Oh yes, my speedo and tach now have an intermitant problem also.

POS7

You can disconnect the clip under the hood latch. Just remove the hood latch assembly and you'll see it. When you disconnect the connector, it should disengage the stock alarm permanently.

I believe theres a connector on the drivers side kick panel, but I wasn't really sure which connector to unclip, so I did the hood latch connector.

silver93r1

ok same thing happend to me everytime i would go to unlock the car the headlights would go off and the flashers and i would have to disconnect the battery so i went and paid the money to get a new alarm and told them what was going on with it and they said that the new alarm would fix it didt it? no. but i took it back to em and they said the dissconected a wire in the drivers door between the door and the door panel that shuts the whole factory alarm down. just ask them about it when you go pick up your car they did that to mine hastn went off since

FDNewbie

iTrader: (10)

Namasan, you just installed a V-mount? Ooh...this I GOTTA check out

MakoDHardie

I got this problem fixed a year ago... when you relocate your relay box to hide it up under the front crossmember inside the bumper, it hangs upsidedown and the box acts like a catch can for water seeping down when you wash your car or have it out in the rain. Supposedly you can prevent this problem if you can hide the thing far enough into the nose of the bumper and keep water from dripping on it at all, but I think the best idea is to figure out how to keep it upright or else pop the box cover and check to make sure no water's gotten in after a rain shower or a car wash. The water leaking down into the lid of the box was hanging around and evaporating and keeping the relays in a constant steamy swamp style environment and corroded the hell out of most of them. I couldn't really tell what the deal was until I got the relays out and poped the tops off of them- nasty! The headlight relay was malfunctioning becuase it was only working half the time and the headlights would go nuts while I was driving. Just replace the headlight retractor relay and you'll be fine....

Aside from that, there's also a fuel pump relay in the same box- the list is on the box top and I'm sure you'll want most of them to work but I think I ended up pulling and throwing the air pump relay and saving the money to replace something that had long since been retired. I had forgotten to replace the fuel pump relay after Mazda had told me they were backordered for months and I ended up stopping a tuning session short last summer. I've replaced the relay since and I'll have to check it to make sure no wiring was compromized before boosting the car again. Just make sure if your problem does turn out to be from water getting in the relay box, check and replace all the relays that are in there and figure out what you have to do to prevent it because those relays are all about $40 something a piece from Mazda.

namasan

Finally got a chance to pull out the relay box after 3 weeks and sure enough there was still some water dripping out!!! Pulled out all the relays to clean them up and will order some new ones and figure out a way to prevent water from getting in there.

FDNena

iTrader: (2)

I got the fix to this....

All you have to do is push the drivers side lock on the down then up.. I still dont' know why this happens on my car, But doing this stops the alarm.

I think it has something to do with unlocking the car door with the key, but not turning it hard enough to pull the lock all the way up to disengauge the alarm, but enough to open the door.

Pipsisewa

Thanks to all who provided info on how to fix this issue. I just had a ton of things done to my FD and one of them was a v-mount. Well, I drove the car in the rain for the first time in years (mostly because the car has been in the shop more than in my possession lately), and my headlights went bizurk! So glad that I'm not the only one that has had this problem, and that others have figured it out! This forum is awesome!

Happy Mothers Day to all the mommies out there!