Alarm Weirdness....
 

Ok, been searching for similar posts, but no-one seems to have had the issue I am having.

I have had my 8 for 4 years now. When I press the lock button on the remote, the hazard lights flash once, and the doors lock. (I always double pump the button to activate the deadlock function). At no time, ever, has the horn sounded (no matter if it's one or two presses). There is also an LED on the steering wheel housing, next to the ignition. NEVER in 4 years has that light blinked or flashed in 4 years. (I actually installed a Radio Shack blinker on the other side after someone smashed a window to try and get in...lucky the door was deadlocked).

Now, here's the thing. The other day, I locked the car, with the drivers window down. For no real reason, I decided to see what would happen if I lent in and unlocked the door and opened it. The door opened, and the horn beeped once quickly. Odd.

So I put the window up, closed the door, and pressed 'lock' on the remote. Lights flashed, (no horn), doors locked, and..... the LED (the factory one) started flashing for the first time ever.

Have I been parked all these years with no alarm actually on, only locked doors?
Any ideas? Did I accidentally do the reverse of a procedure to deactivate the alarm?

The "alarm" appears to be factory (JDM) with the Mazda 'Don't Touch - Alarm' sticker...
Not the transponder/coded key system.

Thought anyone?

Deano

US Spec cars do not have an LED on the steering wheel column, and do not exhibit that behavior. If you were in the US, I'd say that someone installed an aftermarket alarm that is messing with the factory one. I do not know if New Zealand cars came with different factory alarms to know if this is true.

It's a Japanese RX8. Going through the Japanese handbook, it looks as though my car is not fitted with a factory alarm, so it may be aftermarket... the remote is the smaller one with only 3 buttons...lock, unlock and trunk...

The simplest way to test is to 'arm' it (if it is actually armed) an try opening the door with a key...that should set it off...going to give that a try in the morning, in case it does work...dont want the neighbours scared witless by the loud horn at 1am!!

Mine will be the same as yours . If i arm the alarm the light blinks . If i reach in and open the door the horn goes on off on off till i press the remote again . It is possible yours was not working and by doing what you did it somehow reactivated it . Have seen weirder things happen with electronics !

If you watch the flashes the light will flash in a specific pattern to give codes...sounds like you have an immobilizer problem......count the flashes and let us know what they do....ie flash space flash flash flash is a 13 code....etc and then might be able to help you

Update:

Used the remote to lock the car. Used the key to open the door. 5 seconds of beeps coming from dash, then horn sounded constantly. Used remote to sound horn.

So it looks as though in some weird way I have done something to reactivate the alarm system.

Will have a closer look at the flashing LED to see if it flashes in a pattern. From what I can see so far, it just flashes at 3 second intervals.