Stay away from Black Window immobolisers.

[Paris Hilton]

They're great if you don't want anyone to start your car - yourself included.
After my car got stolen, (Thursday 13th October) My next mod was definantly an immoboliser and alarm, and I had one installed a week after. I chose Black Widow because I got it discounted, at the Sydney Motor Show. It's been about 2 weeks now, and it had been working great...until this morning. Open the door, Central Locking unlocks, great. Go to start the car, and the alarm goes off, and I have about 20 minutes to get to school, as end of Year 12 tests this week. I press the button on the clicker thing, nothing. The stupid alarm is still going. I unclip the bonnet, to see if I can do anything, and bang, it stops. What the hell? I close the bonnet, and as soon as I open the (now unlocked) drivers door, it goes off again. hmmmm. Open the bonnet, it stops....this time I left the door open...so it stops, I turn the key in the ignition, the alarm goes off again. Anyway I figured out where the key manual override for the alarm is, so I turned the key and turned the alarm off. Great, So I go to try the ignition again - nothing. F%^&. Made it to school on time, only due to the promptness of Canberra Cabs, damn lucky too. So anyway i'm at school now, my car is unlocked at home with the indicators flashing, unable to be started, It wouldn't let me lock the doors, the button for the central locking didn't work, and as soon as I pressed the button on the door trim, it popped back up again.

Thing is - Same thing happened to my old boss, however it (somehow)destroyed his ECU, costing him a cool $1500, Honda wouldn't cover it under warrenty, and according to him alot other people have had numerous problems as with them as well.

So if you're looking at an aftermarket immoboliser solution, stay clear of Black Widow, not worth the hassle.

Anyone else had any problems with them, or has any idea of how I can get my car started again so I can get it to where I had the immoboliser installed, so they can fix it?

[fiery]

Sorry I cant offer any help on the subject, but thanks for the tip...
Was going to get one of those, not now :

Maybe you can ring the manufacturers or suppliers?!
They would have to have some idea how to remedy the problem..

at least you know it wont be going anywhere today whilst unlocked!


Good luck with it, hope you get it sorted!

[blutura]

thats sound like a pretty crappy system man, sorry to hear it.

if your looking for a replacement, i can definitely recommend Mongoose systems. i had an immobiliser (no alarm) installed in my last car ('85 XF) and it worked a treat, never had any problems with it. was a good price too, $250 installed in 2002.

[PH47]

I've had black widow alarms, and most my friends do (about 6-8 cars off the top of my head have either BW systems).. never had a problem with them.

Sorry to hear about your problems but sounds like it either got installed dodgy or is just a lemon of a unit.

Then again maybe we were just lucky with getting some that worked? who knows.

[Feathers]

I got a Rhino immobiliser installed a few weeks ago by Useless!!

My only problem with it is that I keep forgetting about it, then think WTF?? the car won't start!! :

[XRated]

Sounds like dodgy installation, not so much the system itself?

[deesun]

Originally Posted by XRated

Sounds like dodgy installation, not so much the system itself?

I agree,think you should wait till you get home and have the installer look at it or an auto leccy before you start flaming the alarm. If we all started doing what you are doing none of us would be driving Fords,or Holdens for that matter. I understand your frustration though,needing to get to school for exams and all.

[sphell]

It'll most likely be the install mate or a dodgy battery, we used to fit a heap of those things and they never came back. They were great. Problems like this are usually something simple.

[RED_EL_XR8]

Giving the Verdict before the trial is begun or the evidence is collected is not the wisest of moves!

Before openly canning a product in a public arena, how about -

1.) Determining what is at fault? The hardware or the installation?
2.) Declaring whether the installer is factory or dealer recommended!
3.) Giving the dealer and manufacturer fair opportunity to rectify any warranty fault which may have arisen!
4.) Made sure the symtoms described are not consequental of another unrelated fault such as a dead battery or crook battery terminal!
5.) Had at least a second opinion of the outcome after all of the above has been done!

From a personal perspective I find much of this "animal branded" aftermarket electronics from numerous sources to be garbage, but it is all built to a price the market has demanded, and in most cases does perform satisfactorily at its intended purpose.

I am not suggesting the fault may not be soley the result of a faulty unit, however it is hardly fair to can a manufacturer outright, based on a single undiagnosed failure. Particularly when the actual failure is yet to be fully diagnosed. This is true regardless of how inconvenient or frustrating the results of any breakdown may be!

[Paris Hilton]

Yeah sorry all about the finger pointing heh, I am just so damn frustrated, and not thinking clearly. I can't get the car started, The cars battery is now flat, Can't disarm the system, can't do anything really...oh well, it's not the end of the world, but it sure is annoying...Red, change the name of the thread if you like.

[AUXRVIII]

I'd be looking at the car battery / electrics etc, if you think about it the symptoms are simmilar to someone cutting the power to the alarm system & it is doing what it is designed to do. Sounds like a good system to me.

[LTDHO]

I never liked the BW systems.

I always go Mongoose.

[jmc-007]

Interesting topic. I have had trouble with my mongoose immoboliser but im looking at getting a new one. can anyone recommend a decent installer in the greater sydney area.

[Stav]

Firstly ,It is my understanding that black widow and mongoose are manufactured by the same companies in Taiwan.I may be incorrect but I highly doubt it.

Secondly ,The best alarms fail in cars with flat batteries.The other problem exists when installers dont realise the modern cars electronic systems.

For example the new holden vectra cannot have a mobile phone directly installed by anyone because it can blow the transmission.There is a procedure to follow and care to be taken.

Nissan maximas contain fibre optic cabling which if cut requires the car to be towed away.

The first step is to have reputable people do the job.The second is to make sure there is a good product .

Lastly a poor state of the cars electrical system will play havoc with all electrical components.

Regards Useless

[Josh_XC]

sorry to hear about your problem, i have a black widow in my car, and the same thing happened when i first got it, exact same problem so i know what ur going through.

The first thing i did is rang the people who installed it, they realised it was there fault and quicky fixed the problem, which they didnt tell me what the problem was because there were to embassesed to admit they done a dodge job.

So yeh mate first ring the people who installed it, black widow are a pretty good alarm/immobiliser so unless it is a lemon of a unit and u were unlucky my guess would be human error in the installation.


And yes useless is right i think black widow and mongoose are manufactured by the same people.

Good luck hope ya fix it soon

[Yaw]

I have steered clear from alarms and immobilisers for a while now.
My current car the Escape has the factory immobiliser though.
My two previous cars had aftermarket ones fitted.
My last car a Daewoo espero has an auto-arming immobiliser with a remote key pad to turn it off. The immobilser was made by Tisonics. It would basically auto-arm after a minute of the igniton being turned off.
it was fine for years but one day just started arminmg itself whilst I was driving stopping the engine, only way to restart was to find the keypad and press the button, withs cars driving up your bum, honking horns I simply removed the immobilser in the end.
Prior to that I had an XF fairmont ghia that had an alarm on it but I never got the keypad when i bought the car. It never caused any problems for years until one day my car just started beeping and lights flashing. Had to get an auto electrician to remove that one.

And just before anyone says it yeah I know ....what was I thinking having a daewoo fitted with an immobilser....no one was ever gunna steal it.

[Lightning Strike GT]

I has a BW alarm put into my old car about 8 years ago - they have probably changed a lot since then BUT mine did the same thing and it was the car battery was on its last legs - when you crank the car over it was totally flattening the battery just before the car would start and it put the alarm into a "Im getting hotwired time to act" mode and shut the car down but I could disable the siren with the key pad contoller got the auto sparky who installed it to come back out checked it over and he found the problem - replaced the car battery and it was fine up to the day I sold the car.
As he guys have said try not to flame the product, attempt to have it fixed by the installer or manufacturer , it may be a dodgy contoller or a small short in the wiring loom or even something simpler.

[XLS99 Ute man]

drive with the bonnet open?

[Feathers]

Stolen from elsewhere:

At a recent computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated, "If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25.00 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon."

In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release stating: "If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics" (and I just love this part):

1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash twice a day.


2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car.


3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason. You would have to pull to the side of the road, close all of the windows, shut off the car, restart it, and reopen the windows before you could continue.

For some reason you would simply accept this.


4. Occasionally, executing a maneuver such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.


5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive -- but would run on only five percent of the roads.


6. The oil, water temperature, and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single "This Car Has Performed An Illegal Operation"warning light.


7. The airbag system would ask "Are you sure?" before deploying.


8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key and grabbed hold of the radio antenna.


9. Every time a new car was introduced car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.


10. You'd have to press the "Start" button to turn the engine off.

[Stav]

That is sooo funnnyyy : :

[chief]

Read it before but that still cracks me up!!! :

[Laminge]

Is there an overide switch?

Have you checked th charge in the car Battery?