LEDs and chirping horn

[Jimstav]

Hi all,

I have looked in the forums but can't find what I'm looking for. I recently replaced all of my interior lights with the ECS Tuning kit. They look great, but now my horn chirps when setting the alarm. I looked into things and found that the engine compartment bulb had been removed prior to my buying the car. When I replaced the bulb, it remained on when closing the lid. Must be why it had been removed. I also checked the front trunk light and found that it doesn't shut off when closing that lid either. From reading up, I see that this is generally caused by a faulty microswitch either in the engine compartment latch or the trunk latch, however the horn wasn't chirping in the 2 years before I changed out the bulbs. Could the chirp be somehow caused by the lower overall draw of the LEDs, or is it coincidence that it happened now? Thanks for any help.

jimstav

[Loren]

You really need to put Durametric or PIWIS on the car and find out what alarm error codes you have.

In most cases one chirp means one zone is open and two chirps means there is more than one zone open and/or the alarm unit has a failure.

[Jimstav]

Thanks, Loren.  I forgot to mention that I had put the Durametric on it and it showed no alarm faults. Tried it again this morning to be sure and still none. When setting the alarm it chirps once and the red light on the dash repeats two quick flashes over and over.

[Loren]

Is your Durametric software up to date?

Best try a PST2 or PIWiS otherwise as the chirp definitely signifies an alarm fault.

[Jimstav]

Thanks. Yeah, I just updated this morning before I tried again.  It's weird that the chirp happens but no error is thrown with the doors and everything else closed. I checked the faults with the door open and it did throw the appropriate ones. I think I'll try putting all of the original bulbs back in and get to the point I was at before the chirping. Then replace them one by one and check to see where the chirp starts.  A couple of of questions though...  I was running the car for a couple of years not knowing that the engine compartment light was missing. Should that have caused the chirp? (It didn't). Also, when I did put a bulb in there I saw that the light remained on after closing the lid & locking the car.   This made me check the front trunk light and found that it also remained on after closing the lid & locking the car. Should those be going off along with the interior lights or is it normally that they should stay on longer?  I left the trunk lid open to see what would happen and the light went off after a couple of hours.