Tilt alarm going off!

O

oli445

Senior member
Last night, returned to my car after it being parked up for around 30 mins and the tilt sensor alarm was going off. I unlocked the car and started it and the alarm was still going off!

I was supposed to be leaving it outside a friends house but obviously couldn't do that so was panicking as to where to leave it overnight that it wouldn't disturb people but also I was concerned about leaving it somewhere remote with the alarm drawing attention to it.

Anyhow, I turned the engine off and on but still no joy then after around 15 mins it just stopped.

I'm concerned about it happening again,

1- any ideas on cause?

2- any ideas on how to stop it if it happens again?

Thanks
 
how do you know it was the tilt sensor?

my alarm played up, was the bonnet sensor which is easy to replace :D
 
It is making a high pitched beep, don't know why but I assumed it would be a siren or something for the proper alarm?
 
high pitched beep is the alarm, but there are many sensors.

bonnet sensor is the one that fails commonly - less than a tenner from the dealer though and a minute to fit :thumbsup:

I'd see if it still plays up first though?
 
This happened to a friend of mine. Alarm randomly going off, varriable times, variable duration
It was the bonnet sensor, easy fix. Think this is not uncommon.
 
You can simply disconnect the bonnet switch in the meantime until you get a new one and the alarm won't go off.
Good test you got the right bit too. Mine too went and it's 99% of the alarm faults.

FYI - follow the 2 braces to where they meet the firewall. There's the offending switch.
 
Give the bonnet sensor a wipe and apply a touch of grease. That will probably do the trick and despite being only a tenner for a new one, according to the Series 1 forum I visit they hardly ever fail.
 
Lillywhite said:
Give the bonnet sensor a wipe and apply a touch of grease. That will probably do the trick and despite being only a tenner for a new one, according to the Series 1 forum I visit they hardly ever fail.
Click to expand...

That's interesting. So is the problem due to dodgy contact on the sensor by contamination?
 
Thanks for all the suggestions! :thumbsup:

It has been fine since, will clean the bonnet sensor as a precaution though. Thing I found really odd was the alarm going off whilst I was driving!
 
oli445 said:
Thanks for all the suggestions! :thumbsup:

It has been fine since, will clean the bonnet sensor as a precaution though. Thing I found really odd was the alarm going off whilst I was driving!
Click to expand...

That's different to what I understood from your initial post and to me indicates a different fault if you are now saying the alarm activated while driving?
 
I think it went off whilst the car was parked, but didn't stop even with starting the car and driving away...
I'm surprised the alarm and immobiliser work separately.
 
Bmwz4mc
Could well be as you say, in which case it is unlikely that it has anything to do with the bonnet switch or tilt sensor.

I think it needs checking by a specialist or dealer if it happens again.
 
Thanks CJ, BMWZ4MC is correct, the alarm was going off when I returned to the car and continued upon startup. Turned it off and on a few times but it just carried on! Unlocked and locked several times with the key but no joy then, when I got really desperate and went to the local to ask my dad if I could leave it in his garage overnight, he came out to see how loud it was and it had stopped!

Weird!
 
wantanM said:
Lillywhite said:
Give the bonnet sensor a wipe and apply a touch of grease. That will probably do the trick and despite being only a tenner for a new one, according to the Series 1 forum I visit they hardly ever fail.
Click to expand...

That's interesting. So is the problem due to dodgy contact on the sensor by contamination?
Click to expand...

Here's a copy of the 'How to' PDF from the Series 1 forum. The sensor is in a slightly different position but the principle is still the same.

http://www.babybmw.net/howtos/how_to_ReplacingBonnetAlarmSensor.pdf
 
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