6" of rain prevents car remote from unlocking?

[ash]

It rained about six inches here today, pretty hard at times. I went outside to turn off my alarm and the remote did nothing. I tried my spare remote and nothing once again. My mom's remote for her Buick Lesabre isn't working either. Is this a common defect with GM cars when it rains hard?
-Mike

[Macleod52]

Are you talking about the stock setup? If so I've never had a problem. Maybe water is leaking into your car somehow?

[ash]

The remote that turns off the car alarm. And both my car and my mom's car are having this problem after the downpour.
-Mike

[Gimli]

I think therE's a TSB on water leaking in. Try and get a copy of it, maybe that's your problem...

[Hurricane]

Were they not working while it was raining or was it after it finished raining, or both?

If it was only while it was raining it's not a defect, it's physics. Moisture is an absolute PITA with regards to RF signals. Not to say that a remote will never work when it's raining but depending on distance to the vehicle and how hard it's raining it may not always work.

If it still wasn't working after it finished raining see above posts regarding water leaks.

[ash]

This was after it was done raining. My car reluctantly unlocked this morning, so I'm not going to set the alarm until I get back home. Where's the water leak? I just had the door water leak fixed two days ago. (Remember, it's the remote, not the actual door locks). Thanks for the help.
-Mike

[Hurricane]

Strange. When you say alarm, I'm assuming you have an aftermarket alarm system on your GA. I might suggest that the battery in your remote needs replacing but it would be an awful coincidence that both your remotes and your mom's batteries are all dead.

It's possible that water has leaked down between the window and the lower window seal. Depending on where in the wiring the remote triggers the locks and how they do it, it is possible that water leaking into the door has caused the remote unlocking feature to short out but allowing the manual power D/Ls to still work. I'm assuming the manual power D/Ls still work from what you're saying.

Only thing I can suggest right now is to take off the interior door panels and get in there and make sure everything is nice and dry.

When you used yours did the alarm disarm and the doors just didn't unlock? Or did the alarm stay armed?

[ash]

It's working somewhat reluctantly now. It's the after market alarm. Everything else works like normal, but it just wouldn't turn off the alarm and unlock the doors. I'm pretty sure water leaked into it somewhere since it tempermentally unlocks when I try. Maybe in a day or two it'll dry out. How do you remove your door panel?
-Mike

[Hurricane]

I don't know. Never had to do it. Ask in the Car Audio forum, someone in there will know.

[adorai]

*MY* alarm (aftermarket) also has a similar behavior, and I can tell you why MINE has issues. I installed it myself, and I didn't actually tap, crimp, or solder any of the connections, I simply wedged the wires for the alarm into the existing wiring harnesses for other stuff. When there is a lot of moisture in the air, and the very small contact areas that I have get a little moist, they really don't carry current very well. It's good enough for now though, so I deal with it.

[qwik99gt]

adorai, why in the heck would you do that?! They have posi-lock connectors if you're solder-impaired, and crimpers for low cost installs! Why do all that work and not do it right? It boggles my mind when people f*** up their electronics because they tried to do it themselves. Than they usually post here in the tech section going "how do I know if I blew a fuse?" Sorry, I didn't mean to rant, its just a pet peeve of mine... I'm sure you have your reasons. It's all good:thumbs:

[adorai]

i did it cuz it took me about 20 minutes to install my way, and i hate laying upside down staring into my dash trying to connect the crap. I'm not electronics impaired at all, quite skilled actually, it was just easier and I don't mind my crap being ghetto.