Tomorrow I will be shipping my car from HI to MD.... the shipper requests me to deactivate the car alarm...

Instead of having to take it in to the dealer twice to have it turned off and turned on.. I want to just unplug the siren... I know I can do this as I installed the OEM alarm when I got the car...

Anyone see any issues with this and thinks I should just take it in to have the dealer do it?

Thanks!

 

there is a way for you to (when you lock it) deactivate the alarm. I bleive you should look in the book that came with your mini about the alarm system..it should inform you.

 

I do understand that...

But the Joe Blows on the ship and on the trucks from HI to MD isn't going to know, care or want to be dealing with that..

 

You should be fine just disconnecting the siren. Because it's all integrated, it's not like add on systems that require a seperate fob and can be activated/set off without using the key.

 

Thanks Eric... didn't know if disconnecting the alarm would trip some code in the ECU causing a check engine light or something...

I don't care about the lights flashing.. but the siren going off might cause someone to throw a sledge though the window...lol

 

Will you run into trouble with the lights flashing or the immobilizer if you just disconnect the siren?

 

with who? the shipper?

Takes about 3 weeks to get there... I think it might go off a few times during the ship ride over... but not so much while on the truck or sitting in wait for transit... battery should be fine... if the lights are blinking, but the siren is off, then I don't think the shipper would care...

With all the cars that get shipped, should be fine.. just don't want it to stick out in the crowd...

the immobilizer might be an issue... maybe I will just try it tonight...

 

I'd go ahead and do a dry run, but I can't see that there would be an issue, other than perhaps the alarm light might not flash/flash fast to let you know that there is an issue.
In the '06 the tilt sensor is integrated with the siren, so nothing should set it off. You could disconnect the I/R interior sensor as well, for good measure. With no inputs I can't see how the alarm would trigger.
The immobilizer is based in the ECU/chip-in-key interface, so it doesn't have anything to do with the alarm.

Let us know if you see any side effects of disconnecting the siren.

 

Any chance the tilt sensor would go off due to the ship rocking?
Is there a fuse you can pull? I don't think I'd want to risk my alarm going off for 3 weeks. I bet that would kill a battery.
Do they jump it if it's dead, or just push it over the edge... "Mini? sorry, we no see no Mini onboard this trip..."

 

alright... it is done... I un-did the 1 bolt & 1 nut and pulled the siren out tonight...

Everything works fine... even the alarm & panic, but just no alarm siren, only flashing lights...

Also, the beep & beep-beep for lock & unlock are gone too... go figure...

sweet.... better than paying the dealer... will just throw it back in when I get to the other side...

 

I was thinking about problems with a dead battery but it sounds like that will be OK, good luck with the move!

 

To close my experience on this, the car arrived eventually w/o harm. Everything was in working order it appeared. Re-installed the siren and everything was back to normal. No issues.

 

What company did you use? Do they go international? In a few years I might need an international shipper.

 

Isn't there a seperate fuse for the alarm system that can be removed?