Hey guys I need some help, my alarm (Panic Mode) has been going off randomly for the last month or so and I can't figure out why. It seems to go off in the morning usually between 6AM-8AM. It has gone off at 2AM as well. It may be going off at other times and I don't know it. I know it has gone off 7-8 times in the last month. I know nobody has been messing with my car either, I have a camera system at home. As for an example, I got home from work at 7:30AM today and I locked my car, went inside and the alarm went off after about 3 minutes. My keys weren't on me when it went off either. I turned it off, and 5 minutes later it went off again. Again, I didn't have my keys on me. I know I'm not setting it off on my own.

Here is what I have done so far:
-Hood Pin was removed entirely, it wasn't hooked up when I bought the car so I removed it, I sprayed the plug with contact cleaner and wrapped it up in electrical tape. I re-did it again just to be sure.
-Door pins were replaced, I cleaned the plugs with contact cleaner as well
-Trunk Latch plugs were cleaned with contact cleaner too
-I replaced the batteries in both key fobs that I have

Side note: The car's battery is only 10 months old as well.

Does anyone have any ideas on what I'm missing, my car is driving me nuts???

 

Possibly radio frequency overlap with a neighbor's car? Aftermarket alarm or the factory one?

 

I only have the factory one (Panic Mode). That could be a possibility, my neighbors have had the same 2 cars (Buick and a Hyundai) though for longer than I have had my G35. I don't know why I'd start having this issue all of the sudden then.

 

Doubtful that your fobs are transmitting the panic signal if they're not in your pocket. You could test that by pulling the fob batteries to see if it still happens. Then the only answer is the BCM thinks one of the doors or hood or trunk is being opened while armed.

The hood switch works through your IPDM which sends a CAN digital message to the BCM.

The door switches send ground directly to the BCM like this:
Passenger's front door grounds terminal 12
RH Rear door grounds terminal 13
Driver's door grounds terminal 62
RH Front door grounds terminal 63
And the trunk "room lamp switch" sends ground to terminal 57

All of these switches are connecting to ground, including the hood switch, so they can be disconnected or even removed one at a time to see if the problem stops.

Difficult to track down this kind of random issue, hope you can figure it out.

 

I would also suggest checking the connections going into the IPDM for corrosion.

 

+1 on the disconnecting components 1 by 1 until you find the bad connection. Good luck, sounds like a real PITA. If it seems to go off consistently in the morning at your house but it's always fine sitting at work all day, I wonder if it would go off at 7:30 AM if you left it at work. Seems strange that the issue is connected to the time, but I can see a stray radio signal (somebody else's car from farther away maybe?) setting it off every morning when someone else unlocks their car to go to work in the morning.

If this happened to me I would try and disable the alarm rather than going through the whole car to fix it, honestly, but I live in Maine and all my neighbors leave their (older) cars unlocked with the keys in the center console here... not me! Does anyone know how one would go about doing this (OTHER than disconnecting the horn....), just in case one day I walk out to my car and the alarm won't turn off?

 

I will try removing the fob batteries. I don't have the hood switch installed in the car at all. It was unplugged when I bought the car, so I naturally assumed it was faulty and removed it. I cleaned the plug for it with contact cleaner and wrapped it with electrical tape. I replaced all of the door switches as well.

I cleaned the connections for the trunk lock actuator, is that the same as the trunk "room lamp switch"? It had 2 plugs on it and is apart of the trunk latch. I was thinking about buying one and replacing it as well, to see if that fixes the issue.

 

What is the IPDM and where is it located?

 

Here are the condition that can trigger the alarm after it has been activated, opening any door, opening the hood, opening the trunk, disconnecting and reconnecting power supply.

Check your battery connection, once the system is armed if there is any change in the power supply system it will automatically switch to alarm notification, if you have an old or weak battery that is giving you other problems as well then it's almost certainly the battery. Also possible due to poor or corroded connections, the system might be dropping voltage enough to trick NATS into thinking the battery was disconnected.

 

The time frame is just what I noticed and it's when I'm at home. It did go off once at 2 AM as well, I forgot to put that in my original post. It could very well be going off at other times and I don't know it. Is there a way to disable the factory alarm (panic mode)?

 

I did check my the terminals and everything was clean and tight. The battery is only 10 months old as well, I will try disconnecting and reconnecting it though, just to see if it helps.

 

It's up against the firewall in the battery compartment. It's the black box with wire harnesses coming in from the bottom. You'll need to remove the entire cover for that compartment (not just the battery cover) to get to it.

Years ago I had an issue where water was getting into that compartment and was getting random alarm trips at night, while it was in my garage. I also had some other odd electrical behavior while driving if I went through large puddles. Long story short - I resolved the issues with water getting into that compartment (and the IPDM), cleaned the connections to the IPDM (which showed some corrosion), and the car has been fine since.

 

I will definitely check that out this weekend when I get time. Thanks for the info!

 

I finally got around to look at the IPDM yesterday, there was some water and a fair amount of sludge build up because my drain plug was plugged up. My IPDM didn't appear to be corroded though, I did clean it out though. My alarm went off again sadly.

 

Bumping.

Anyone else have any ideas as to what it could be?

Here is what I have done so far:
-Hood Pin was removed entirely, it wasn't hooked up when I bought the car so I removed it, I sprayed the plug with contact cleaner and wrapped it up in electrical tape. I re-did it again just to be sure.
-Door pins were replaced, I cleaned the plugs with contact cleaner as well
-Trunk Latch plugs were cleaned with contact cleaner too
-I replaced the batteries in both key fobs that I have
-Cleaned the IPDM (Would this even be an issue since I don't have the Hood Pin installed anyways?)

Side note: The car's battery is only 10 months old as well.