# My TT's possessed (windows rolling down, alarm going off)



## wmorrison65 (Sep 7, 2014)

2001 Audi TT 225hp

A few nights ago, my alarm went off at least three times in the night. I never saw anyone/anything near it. Same thing happened again at least once (that I know of) last night.

But Sunday morning, I went outside and found the windows halfway down. Now THAT's got me worried, because of all the snow we've been getting.

Anybody ever have similar issues? Any advice on where to start looking?

I could probably pull the fuse for the alarm until I get it figured out, but the WINDOWS... They open a crack when the door is opened, so I can't pull the window fuse from the panel that's inaccessible with the door closed, without leaving the window down a bit.


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## lite1979 (Sep 9, 2005)

A scan with VCDS will give you some insight as to what's going on. It sounds to me like the battery for the alarm has started to leak and mess with your central locking, but if you have a roadster, it's in a different location than the coupe, iirc. I've seen a bunch of posts in the UK TT forum about this draining car batteries over time.

As for pulling the alarm fuse, see what else goes through that fuse and make sure you can live without it. You can pop your hood, close the door, pull off a battery terminal, then remove the fuse without your window dropping down. Hook your battery back up, and you're good to go.


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## wmorrison65 (Sep 7, 2014)

Thanks, I'll run another VCDS scan and see if anything's changed.

I have a coupe, not a roadster. I don't know where the alarm is. I've seen pictures where it's in front of the driver's side taillight, accessible through a side panel inside the car, but there's nothing there on mine. (Maybe that's a roadster?)

Wherever it is, it's not a separate siren, it just honks the horn. Don't know if that's a model year thing. The Bentley didn't give much information on it.

So I guess I could just unplug the horn fuse and let the lights flash away when the alarm mis-triggers.


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## lite1979 (Sep 9, 2005)

I have a feeling that the horn for when you lock the car is where you want to look. Iirc, it's tucked above the rear left fender liner, and the battery is right next to it. It's just the horn you hear when you lock, though it can also affect the alarm system, which involves both of the horns in the front bumper. Post your scan; I'd like to see it.


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## wmorrison65 (Sep 7, 2014)

lite1979 said:


> I have a feeling that the horn for when you lock the car is where you want to look.


My horn doesn't beep when I lock the car. No sound at all.



lite1979 said:


> Iirc, it's tucked above the rear left fender liner, and the battery is right next to it. It's just the horn you hear when you lock, though it can also affect the alarm system, which involves both of the horns in the front bumper. Post your scan; I'd like to see it.


So I'm guessing from what you're saying, that there should be both a "siren" type alarm AND horn beeps when the alarm goes off? And the "siren" one in the rear fender should also "chirp" when the car is locked? If so, mine's definitely not working, never any sound at all from back there.

I'll have to look for it in the daylight sometime when it's not freezing out.


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## lite1979 (Sep 9, 2005)

I'm suffering in these cold temperatures as well. The chirp that you described is the only noise that rear horn makes, and the location is why it always sounds muffled. There is a battery near that chirping horn that allows you to remotely unlock the car in the case of no key and a dead main battery. This small auxiliary battery can go bad and leak acid, which then corrodes a few circuits that are elemental to the central locking system.


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## wmorrison65 (Sep 7, 2014)

For the record, pulling the horn fuse does NOT stop the horn from going off with the alarm. It just happened. (Security feature, I guess? LOL) It only stops the horn from sounding when you press the steering wheel.


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## lite1979 (Sep 9, 2005)

No kidding! I just replaced my horn, so I was glad when I heard it again. I wonder if your motion detector is messed up...


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## wmorrison65 (Sep 7, 2014)

Figured something out, hope this helps someone.

Pulling fuse 14 disables the alarm sound. You can still lock/unlock with the remote. The red lights in the door won't flash (fast flash for 30 seconds before arming, then slow flash while armed.) The parking lights will still flash when the alarm is triggered.

The alarm does not use the regular horn, it is a separate sound module (although it sounds like a regular horn on mine) so you don't lose the use of your horn.

I also found my doors auto-lock after about two minutes (didn't time it) which explains why the alarm went off recently when I thought I'd left the car unlocked.

I'll sort out why the alarm is mis-triggering when it gets warmer.


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## lite1979 (Sep 9, 2005)

There's a motion detector in the headliner, iirc. I'm putting my interior back in in the spring, so I'll confirm when I get everything back in.

I think doors lock at a certain speed. Mine have never automatically locked, but it may be normal depending on options and model year.


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## wmorrison65 (Sep 7, 2014)

I have a suspicion about what's going on, but can think of no way to definitively test it, except waiting for it to happen again and prove my suspicion wrong.

My car has the window convenience feature active. If I press and hold unlock, my windows go down. Press and hold lock and they go up.

So maybe I sat on the key inside the house, rolled my windows down outside, and sometime in the night someone stuck their arm inside the window, or a leaf blew through, or anything that might have triggered the motion sensor (which I know works.)

Problem is, I can't remember whether my windows were always down whenever the alarm went off at night. Or whether I held the lock button to turn off the alarm and rolled the windows back up without noticing it.

So I've put back fuse 14 and will just wait and see what happens. And keep the key out of my pocket on a table. 

Just adding this information for anybody searching for the same problem.


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## 225TTed (Nov 28, 2014)

My horn doesn't beep when I lock the car... I went looking for the siren itself (tt coupe)... But wtf! It's not behind the driver taillight...


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## lite1979 (Sep 9, 2005)

The only thing behind your left tail light on a TT is admirers and slower cars, lol!

Seriously, though, you have to remove your rear left wheel then remove the fender liner. It'll be in there. I'm planning on tearing into mine on Sunday. If the weather permits, I'll update this post.


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## 225TTed (Nov 28, 2014)

Awesome!


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