Had a customer's car alarm go off every time I touched the brake pedal

This was on a 2012 Civic last Tuesday. I was just doing a simple brake job in my home garage. The second I pressed the pedal to bleed the lines, the horn started blaring and the lights flashed. It scared me half to death. I spent 45 minutes checking everything, thinking I'd shorted a wire. Turns out the owner had some weird aftermarket alarm installed that tied into the brake light circuit, and the low fluid level from opening the bleeder valve triggered it. I had to call him to get the disarm code. Has anyone else run into an alarm system wired into something totally unexpected like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

tara_gonzalez2029d ago

Seriously? That's actually a pretty clever anti-theft feature. Why would you even want to disable it?

elizabethg5328d ago

Right? Like who needs their car to scream "steal me" lmao. Some people just love making things harder on themselves.

the_skyler5d ago

Check the brake fluid cap first thing. A lot of those cheap alarms have a simple float sensor hidden in there. Saves you a huge headache before you even pick up a wrench.