Help with old Ungo Alarm

[porsche_addict]

The previous owner of my '86 951 installed an aftermarket alarm system from Ungo. There is a small control panel below the stereo that has two rockers switches. The first rockers appears to turn the alarm on and off while the second rocker says motion "high" and "low". Anyways, it also appears that the PO installed factory power locks from a late model 951. There is a factory rocker switch in the middle and both door lock knobs have a LED light on top (which don't light up).

The first problem is that the power locks do not work by either the switch or the key in the door locks. Something tells me that the alarm is connected to the factory power lock module that was added.. I can't figure out how to use the alarm. There is a red light on the Ungo control panel that flashes red and gives a quick paced audible beep if I turn the rocker switch for the alarm to on.

The remote does not seem to have any effect on the system either. The remote says Ungo and there are two buttons with markings of "I" and "II". The light on the remote lights up when I press the "II" button. I looked under the dashboard below the driver's knee panel only to find an array of wiring and control boxes. There are three Ungo boxes and the main box lists the model as a TL1600. I have no manual for the alarm system and I'm wondering if anyone can shed light on the situation. Should I gut the alarm system entirely? I'm worried that this might cause other issues since I do not know how the system is tied into the car and how it was wired.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

I would take that thing out completely, wire by wire and toss it in the nearest dumpster.

Seriously.

[nightheart]

For simplicity's sake, yeah gut it. On the other hand it sounds like it might be cool, if you can figure it out. If you can't find a manual online, you could take it to a stereo/electronics store that installs alarms, and they might have a clue.

[Grandad#3]

I don't know if this will help or not, but give it a try.

AllExperts Questions & Answers

Go to auto and click, up in the FIND block type ungo alarm, and ask your question.

Cheers,
Larry

[Lizard944]

Wow, that's amazing. I just ripped my model 5000 Ungo Box out last week. It died and was blowing fuses so I carefully removed the wiring. What a rat's nest. Tons of Scotch clips were used to tap into other wires. Plus I had the battery backup, and paging system installed. The only thing left that is useful, are the flashing LEDs installed near the door locks. I'm going to figure out how to make a dummy system with just the flashing LEDs. Could've saved myself $900. The only manual given to me by the installer was a simple instruction manual. No wiring schematics. Ungo was bought out by a company called Techne or Tectronics. Something like that. I forget which one.

[porsche_addict]

Sounds like I will have my work cut out for me by removing the alarm. Is there any way I should tackle the job? Should I just unplug and remove all of the system boxes? I don't want to pull everything out and then realize the car will not run without them. It would also be nice to get the power locks working again but I don't know where to start. I too would like a discreet setup with the flashing LEDs that are already in the door locks.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Start with the brain/control unit and work outward. I wouldn't just abandon the wiring other than that - it leaves the potential for future shorts. Most aftermarket alarms are installed by high school dropouts who have no clue what they're doing in the back of Best Buys or Circuit City stores. I know of one guy who had an aftermarket alarm installed in a 996. They made such a mess of his wiring it literally cooked his ECU. Price to fix? Over $3,000. I've personally dealt with more hair-pulling, cursing and frustration on the part of lousy aftermarket systems and associated poor installation/splicing jobs than you can imagine. I hate those things by nature. They're virtually all junk. Besides, who actually bothers to look in the direction of a car whose alarm is going off these days anyway?

Get yourself the club, lock your doors, cover your car or park in a garage if possible (or at least in a well-lighted area with a lot of foot traffic) and most importantly park next to easier targets that will present more of a target for opportunistic thieves (Honda Civics, Toyota Camrys, etc.) Thieves don't want to cherry-pick parts from a 20-year old niche market sports car with low resale value. They want to get in, fire up, drive off and chop up in under 12-24 hours. Preferably cars that have parts worth a lot on the open market - which means common cars.

If you're smart, you won't need an alarm. If the thieves are professionals and REALLY want your particular car, an alarm won't matter anyway.

The only reason I can think of for having an alarm at all (or CLAIMING you do - hint, hint) is to get an insurance discount on your comprehensive coverage. Then again, who the heck keeps comprehensive coverage on a car they own outright (i.e. no lienholder)? I certainly don't bother with it.

[nightheart]

I've had an aftermarket alarms installed in most of the cars I've owned. The main factor for me was always convenience, since 2 of the cars didn't have keyless entry, and one didn't even have power locks. After the alarms were installed, all three had keyless entry. I never had a problem with the installers either, mostly at circuit city, back when they still dealt with d.e. i. alarm systems.

As for the theft deterrent part, nothing is going to stop someone if they really want your car, but alarms do keep some of the school age punks at bay. I heard my alarms going off twice, and looked out the windows to see kids running away. Properly installed viper alarms trigger if someone even tries your door handle. My 2 cents, take it for what its worth, but I always liked aftermarket alarms.

I have heard plenty of horror stories about install jobs going bad, but most were from people trying to d.i.y. and screwing up bad.