87' Antitheft System Problems - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

Ryncub · 12-09-2004, 10:52 AM

For the past year or so I have had on and off problems with my alarm sounding when I unlock my door. It is becoming more of a problem lately as it happens about every other time I unlock my car.
When this happens, I put the key in the ignition to stop the horn from honking, but then the car won't start. So I pop the hood, unhook the negative terminal from the battery, hook it back up and the car starts and runs fine.
Any ideas on what part went bad and where it's located?

Thanks for any help.

Ryan

Jeeves · 12-09-2004, 11:45 AM

This is a common problem. You don't need to pull the negative terminal cable. In order to disable the ignition kill switch. First turn off the alarm by putting the key in the ignition.
Then get out of the car, shut the door. Lock it, then unlock it. This will reset the alarm.

However, what is causing your alarm to turn on will also prevent you from reseting your alarm too.

First pull all the screws out of the door. There are several on the outter edges, and such. Keep a keen eye out. There is one under the door release lever. Once you've got all the screws out, you will need to remove the plastic cup from the door release lever area. To do this, pull up on the door open handle, and pull the edge of the cup out. It may take a minute or two of figuring it out, but it does come out I promise.

Once you've got all the screws out of the door, lift/pull the door itself off of the door frame. The door will still be attached by the door light wiring connector, so be careful and unplug it as well. Then the door should come off freely.

Once you've got the door off, peel down the plastic door covering and look back into the area of the lock cylinder. There should be a plastic device attached to the back of the cylinder with wires coming out of it. This is the sensor your alarm uses to know if the door is being opened with a key or if someone is slim jimming the door open. Press it against the lock and make sure all the clasps are firmly held on there. Being an 1987 vehicle, they may have broken. But that's doubtful. Either way, make sure it's seated firmly against the back of the lock cylinder. While someone else turns the key in the door from the outside, watch it and make sure you can see the sensor turn on the inside. If you can see this, and it's well attached, you can reassemble your door. You're finished.

That's the typical fix. Tell me if it doesn't work and I'll post other ideas.

Ryncub · 12-09-2004, 12:13 PM

Greatly appreciated! I'll try to get to that this weekend. Although, we a possible BHG I don't know whether I should invest my time in fixing a door lock problem or searching for a new car. : (

88supraTony · 12-12-2004, 11:33 PM

doo all supras come with alarms?

Jeeves · 12-13-2004, 01:40 AM

It's not an active alarm. It only goes off if you open the door somehow w/o a key. When that sensor falls off the back of the cylinder, it thinks the lock doesn't turn when you open the door.

forguage · 12-13-2004, 02:15 AM

I had the same problem,now the power locks don't work anymore and I have to key lock both doors,I'm glad I saw this,maybe I can fix it like you said.I know when I had problems with the power windows,it was a relatively easy sensible fix also.

nasty87supra · 02-21-2005, 07:07 PM

i had that same problem before as well and my friends dad that works at a toyo dealership showed me an easy method. he showed me that if security light is working in your '87 you have to open the door with the key when the security light blinks into a solid red. when i did this i never had to disconnect a battery cable or go through the steps that jeeves passed to you

Jeeves · 02-22-2005, 11:35 AM

On behalf of everyone else that won't understand what you just wrote, "What?"

jdmsuprarhd · 02-22-2005, 04:36 PM

I fixed my problem by pulling the dome fuse out of the fuse box and the alarm never worked again but it didnt go off all the time

Jeeves · 02-23-2005, 11:52 AM

Then your dome light doesn't work either.

It's much easier to pull that panel and fix the problem than use cheapo band-aid solutions.

Tofuball · 03-10-2005, 09:45 AM

Friend of mine's supra had a weird security box in it:
http://meatball.devlocus.com/Cars/Su...rityModule.jpg

The alarm didnt go off anymore, but the starter kill was always on, so we couldnt start the car w/o rolling it down a hill. The board had a buncha circuts on it that fried. We just ended up grounding out the alarm, it never bothered us again.

Jeeves · 03-11-2005, 01:03 AM

There was a Toyota option package for more alarm features, but it was quite rare.

Tofuball · 03-11-2005, 06:59 AM

Yeh, 'quite' is a bit of an understatement. Searched quite a few junkyards and never found it.

On top of that, the Toyota Dealer's database said the part didnt exist! Even looked it up by the part number on the box, and NOTHING.