faulty 95 legacy lsi alarm

[tom g via CarKB.com]

I have a 1995 lsi which i purchased a couple months back and the passive
alarm randomly goes off sometime every hour for no reason. it might go a
couple weeks without going off then for 12 hours straight will go off. I have
disconeccted the horn so my neibors don't kill me but the flashing lights and
no horn are getting old.
I have had this at the Wentworth subaru dealership twice and they have not
been able to find the alrm box.
Does anybody know how to disconnnect this alarm?
I'm told that the LSI is different than the standard legacy and that the
normal location for the alrm box is directly under the steering column and
this car is not set up that way.
The dealer told me that they could install a new one for 360.00 but if they
can't find the factory one i don't think i want them installing another one.

 

[Bill Pelka]

Tom,

I have a 1995 Legacy LSI and there is no alarm that goes with this other
than a very silent immobilizer. I do not have a key fob that remotely opens
the door. I understand that is an option that was added in 1996. I did
manage to locate a web page that has info that you are looking for. It
contains the instruction sheet for the factory installed option for 1996.
The owner of the web page made the system work on his '95, but I opted to
wait till I get another new SUBIE in the near future, With only 110K miles
on the 11 year old '95, I don't see that happening in the too near future.

Here is the Web Page... http://www.randomsoup.com/subie/

anyway, back to your LSi. The alarm system you have is actually pretty
neat in spite of being poorly documented (the manual helps a little, but not
much). It doesn't require a keyfob, its operation can't be disabled (not by
any "routine" means at least), and it integrates completely with the locking
and unlocking of the vehicle, including locking/unlocking done mechanically
with the key. Lock the doors, the alarm LED comes on and stays steady for
30 seconds, then starts flashing. At that point it's on. Unlock the door
with the key and it's immediately turned off. Very nice. Also happens to
be wired into a switch for the hood, so if your hood is opened with the
alarm on it will alert. Also very nice.

In addition the alarm system has a starter interrupt (I think). I mention
this because it was lack of a starter interrupt that made me go fishing for
a secondary setup. Turns out it has one already-- if I remember correctly.
Not bad.

So all you're really "missing" in terms of a comparison to the security
system setup seen in the 97-98 model years is keyless entry and a siren.
'96 didn't have an upgrade, nor did 95-- you either bought an LSi, bought an
aftermarket alarm, hacked something together, or lived without it. What
you've seen in my site is that I hacked something together. What I did was
to get a 97-98 "Security System Upgrade" working alongside/on top of the
LSi's own "built-in" system. The "Security System Upgrade" is a
Subaru-branded add-on to the Subaru-branded keyless entry system, which is
in fact an aftermarket setup (Code Alarm). The LSi's built-in system, as
best as I can determine, is true factory material.

With all that said, you probably have most of what you need already.
Granted, you have no siren, but when the alarm goes off it will honk to high
heaven and flash the head/tail lights. To test it I think you have to lock
yourself in the vehicle (with the key out of the ignition) and then manually
exit. As far as the keyless entry... if you want to add that you have a
challenge in that Subaru discontinued the buggers. There are some online
maybes and probably aftermarket workarounds, but it's been awhile since I
first heard that the "true Subaru model" was tough to find.

Bill