Factory Alarm Keeps Going Off

Hey guys, a few quick questions:

I've got a 2-dr 2003 Cavalier LS Sport. The other day, a few hours after I came home and locked my car like I usually do (2 'lock' clicks on the FOB, where the lights flash and horn beeps), the alarm randomly went off. Like someone had hit the panic button on the FOB. I went outside, unlocked and relocked using the FOB, and came back in. I did this repeatedly over the course of a few hours. The alarm went off about 5 times in total, with each time getting progressively sooner than the last.

When I go outside the last time, I go outside and start the car. Close all the doors and trunk/hood, and then I notice that the dome light isn't turning off. As the car is still running, I flick the locks (via the internal power switch on the door) to lock and the light turns off and the doors lock. I unlock and then lock again, this time the passenger door locks and the driver side locks and then automatically unlocks. I try locking again, and the passenger side stays locked and the driver side again flicks from locked to unlocked.

I sprayed the latch in the driver door with Kling-On and worked the latch a bit with a screwdriver. The door then closes and the light turns off. I press lock once on the FOB and the light stays off, press it twice and the horn flashes and dome light stays on. When I finally got it to the point where I could hit the lock on the FOB twice and have the light stay off, I came inside and it went off about 10 minutes later.

After manually locking the door, everything was fine. I overrode the anti-theft/alarm system, and the dome light turned off. I checked outside a few minutes later after coming in, and the dome light randomly was on but no alarm was triggered.

I've been pulling the dome light fuse and manually locking ever since, but this is becoming a huge inconvenience since it resets the radio with every pull. I just never know when I manually lock, when the dome light is going to come on and stay on and kill the battery. I spent some time again working the latch today, and I got about 3 hours without having the alarm going off. But now I'm back to square one.

Does anyone have any ideas that I could try, or what could be causing this? Is it the latch? How do you determine whether the dome light switch is faulty? Could it be triggering the alarm also? Because my door closes and stays closed, and locks if I lock it manually. (I can't pull it open)

Thanks

What could be happening is the "door ajar" switch is bad.....if it triggers, the content theft deterrent system thinks a door has been opened, the dome light comes on and will set the alarm off....This can be seen with a GM scan tool by looking at body data......I think the switch is part of the latch....question is, which door latch is causing the problem......the scan tool would pin point it....

So that's just basically bringing it in to the shop? I'd imagine it should be the driver door as that's the one I use most frequently, and at the time of the incident, was the only door that had been used recently. Do they typically charge to just do the scan?

Would the dome light switch, if faulty, trigger the anti-theft alarm?

So that's just basically bringing it in to the shop? I'd imagine it should be the driver door as that's the one I use most frequently, and at the time of the incident, was the only door that had been used recently. Do they typically charge to just do the scan?

Unfortunately, garages, as a rule, do not work for free.....GM, in their infinite wisdom, decided to consolidate their dealerships.....put one big one in an area, and eliminate the redundant small shops.....but it was these small shops that catered to their customers....to the big ones, you are just a number....I worked at a small shop......if you were a "steady" customer, and came in for an oil change, and asked us to do a quick scan of your vehicle, we would do it for free...Today, depending on the shop, they would charge you 1/2 to an hour for diagnostic time......they are not in the business of giving free info....



Would the dome light switch, if faulty, trigger the anti-theft alarm?

I want to say no, but it's possible it could....when the system is armed, if the dome light comes on, the flow of current could trigger the theft system.....you can possibly test this out.....sit in the car.....lock/arm the system.....now with the system armed, turn the dome light on manually at the dome light switch to see if this triggers the alarm....if it does, does your dome light have a three position switch(on all the time, off, and auto, like when a door is open)? If it does, you can try switching it to the "off" position(in this position, it does not come on when a door is open)....but If the "door ajar" switch is at fault, I think that will set off the alarm anyway.....

As for the "door ajar" switch, it can go bad on either door....I have replaced several on the passenger side on G6's......

One thing you might be able to try is this: from outside the car, lock/arm your vehicle......wait about one minute .......now, grab the driver's door(not the door handle), and pull on it slightly.....then do the same to the opposite side.....sometimes, just pulling on the door is enough to trigger a bad switch.....so if the alarm sounds off when you pull a door, that is the side that is the problem.....not a fool proof test......sometimes that switch will not be affected by pulling, but it is worth a try....