E30 Zone

My e30 has been parked in a garage for a number of years and i now think its time it got used again.

The alarm works and is loud as hell but the remotes are worn and i think the lot could with renewing.

Can anybody recommend the best alarm to go for? I liked the idea of the ones with the warn away proximity sensors but not sure they do them anymore.

i keep hearing about a spate of e30 thefts over the last few years due to the rarity of them and some of their parts so im probs gonna go down the tracker route as well.

Thanks

I am going down the same route. The problem is all the best ones have to be "professionally fitted"

I am not going to re-do the wiring with new tesa tape to let some 'professional' hack it with Scotchloks and badly crimped spades.

Had a Clifford on my old M3 which had the warning perimeter chirp. Was very good but not sure new ones do that.

It's important to realise that even the most sophisticated, professionally fitted alarm/immobiliser will only present a small inconvenience to anyone who has any idea of how E30 electrics work, and wants to drive away your car!
To be at its most effective, it need to be connected to the fuel pump circuit, which will take a minute or so to bypass at least, rather than the couple of seconds required to deal with a starter and/or ignition immobiliser
An alarm is effective if you can hear it personally, but don't rely on other people taking action. In the night it will be "just another faulty car alarm" and in the day people just look and walk on by. I once bought an E30, and the (Clifford) alarm decided to fire up shortly after I set off home. I silenced and disconnected it by the side of the street, with people walking by all the time, either ignoring me or giving a look of disdain at the racket.
Any alarm you do fit must have its own battery for the sounder, otherwise it can be silenced in a second after opening the bonnet, by cutting through the earth lead with a shear. An ordinary, single car jump lead serves to repair the damage temporarily after dealing with the alarm and immobiliser at leisure.
Simple GPS trackers cost little these days and are worth tucking away in the car.
I still maintain that the most effective simple way of immobilising an E30 engine, is a hidden or not so hidden switch which short circuits (not isolates) the fuel pump supply.

I agree with a lot of what Brian says above but these days they don't tend to bother starting the car at all. A mate's RS3 was simply winched into the back of a Luton van right outside his house, he never heard a thing. By all accounts the van blocked the tracker. All that was left was a gallon of old engine oil that was poured on the floor so the car slid.

The car had the full immobiliser but no perimeter chirp or tilt sensor.

The Clifford was good in as much as it chirped when someone walked past the car up the drive. I saw how people reacted to the chirp and it did stop them getting too close. if they persisted it chirped louder then the alarm went off. Didn't have a problem with it in the 10 years I had the car but then i did fit the alarm myself.

The benefit of fitting it yourself is you can link it in to a few systems at different places.

The next one will have an alarm but I will fit it and cant find one I like at the moment

Im really after two things:

An alarm that has a proximity sensor to warn away parts thieves and
A tracker if someone tries to take the whole car.

Ultimately the sad fact is that if someone wants your car, they will take it. If someone wants parts off it, they will do the same thing. All you can do is make it hard as possible.

With the prices of e30s going up and some parts reaching crazy prices, it is inevitable. Ive only decided to get my e30 out as i was worried the engine will sieze after sitting around so long and my workplace has a proper in house car park with security barrier now so ive got some security, wheres as before it would have been parked about amile away in a public carpark where anything could happen.

Ive seen various trackers varying from 25 quid all the way up to 700. Be interested to know peoples experiences as my fear is these cars going abroad to exotic locations stolen to order ala gone in 60 seconds..

They aren't worth "that much" unless its an exotic model and the thieves are the lower end level scum who most properly deal with other lower end scum and steal to order for the parts.

flybynite wrote: The benefit of fitting it yourself is you can link it in to a few systems at different places.

I've never seen an immobiliser other than one that interrupts the supply to the ignition, fuel pump and/or starter. Ignition and starter bypass is a couple of seconds once under the bonnet, and the fuel pump will take a couple of minutes at most.
If, however, arrangements are made to short circuit the pump supply, fuse 11 will blow if an attempt is made to start the car, and a bypass will be much more difficult, as the short will have to be removed first. All perfectly simple to do of course, but it'll take time and experiment for the would be thief to work out what is happening, and time is what he won't have.
It's also perfectly possible to immobilise an E30 much more effectively by breaking into the engine loom, but I have never seen this done.
Some late four pot E30 ECUs have a pin on the ECU specifically for use with an immoboliser, but this was never utilised by BMW on the E30, or by any aftermarket immobiliser that I know of.

Brianmoooore wrote:I've never seen an immobiliser other than one that interrupts the supply to the ignition, fuel pump and/or starter.

I was talking about about an alarm but I guess the theory would be the same for an immobiliser. It follows on from what you were saying about a kill switch.

Many alarms (at least the ones I knew years ago) had a pair (or more) of alarm triggered normally-open and normally-closed relays that could be intersected wherever your imagination wanted.

If the alarm was 'professionally' fitted they would go for the usual ignition/starter etc whereas with a bit of imagination those relays could do other things as you alluded to above.

Looks like the clifford one is the only one that is still available with the features i want. Cost between 600 to 850?....
Trackers are coming in around 300 with 150 per yr prescription.

Autowatch has been mentioned a few times but dont know if theyre any good

No need to go for a tracker with a subscription that high these days. Plenty of highly rated stuff on ebay for around £40 - £50 or so plus £20 year.
Year proposed Clifford alarm, connected in any way that I have ever seen, would delay me from driving away your car by three minutes at most, and probably a lot less.

My dad had a free system which prevented the car from being driven away and I have used it on my Baur as well over night in "strange places"

Remove the rotor arm !!

Quick and very easy if you have one.lol.

Mart.

Like i said before, my main concern is the parts on it and any alarm with a warn away or will go off if someone is near it for too long would be ideal.

A tracker would then cover those who ever try to take the whole car.

Brian i know what youre saying and like ive said before if some really wants itthey will do anything to do so, but to deter the low level scrotes i need something better than what i have right now.