4am Alarm! by NormanG



NormanG
I've just acquired a lovely 2003 diesel Connoisseur but it has a few quirks, not least the alarm going off ar 4am this morning! I understand that locking the door with the key rather than remotely will prevent this happening again. Is this correct, please?

Posted 18 Mar 2026, 09:57 #1 


Ed3
I have also just acquired a diesel Connoisseur and found various of the electrics just come on as they wish even at night. Rain water on the wiring is occurring. But obviously I will not know an accurate version of events until the car is dried out. Maybe have a look at my posts and replies from those more experienced?

A quick way to know if the carpet is flooding can be finger on the dent in the carpet where front seat belt has a big are bolt to the inner sill. Also the underside of one or more of the car mats are strangely wet. Testing the sunroof drains by carefully pouring some warm soapy water and seeing where it comes out, helped me trace a fault - but finding a fault (disconnected sunroof drain pipe) meant adding water into the electrics above the drivers footwell and the electrics are worse at the moment

Where our cars may have a similar fault is mine came without a remote key....and a previous owner has taken apart all the door locks and not put them back together very well.

Posted 18 Mar 2026, 18:38 #2 

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Arctic
(Trader)
NormanG wrote:I've just acquired a lovely 2003 diesel Connoisseur but it has a few quirks, not least the alarm going off ar 4am this morning! I understand that locking the door with the key rather than remotely will prevent this happening again. Is this correct, please?


Most likely bonnet switch as water ingress, check it out.
Pearl Firefrost
ARCTIC

Posted 19 Mar 2026, 00:30 #3 

User avatar
Duncan
I had an issue with the alarm on one of mine. This is on a car that had a siren (BBUS) not just a horn. This fault would never happen on a car that beeps the horn. The main battery would get a bit low. Then with a cold night, the main battery would drop as it got cold. The battery backed up sounder thought the main battery had been disconnected, and set itself off. The clues were, when this happened the hazards didn't flash, it was just the siren.
I'll also mention that it was a known issue on some Vauxhalls, that if the battery in the BBUS itself became weak, it would do the same. Always on a cold night, in the middle of the night, and no hazards flashing.
Final note, that's why it's always the middle of the night when smoke alarms decide to start chirping about a low battery.
Image

Posted 19 Mar 2026, 15:33 #4 


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