I Just got my 1981 corvette dream car about a month ago and yesterday it was raining I sat in my Vette at lunch and went to lock the doors and discovered that I have an alarm that disables the Starter and makes a lot of noise.
I know now how to turn it off but I don't know how to turn it on, or how I managed to turn it on.
Any help would be great.

I don't know how you did that but to arm the alarm in my 82, you have to lock the driver door from the outside with the key.

Thanks

I know that to turn it off I was told to turn the key to the left then the right and back straight up to disarm it.(seems to have done the trick)
I tried locking it from the outside as you suggested but it didn't arm, I am wondering if some rain water had possibly got into the inner door that made contact in the switch, if that's where it is, and armed it. Now that I know it has one its driving me nuts that I can't get it to work again.

81 vetteman,
Here is the way to arm and disarm the system. This is straight out of the 1981 corvette owners manual.

Arming the system: After the ignition is turned off, the system may be armed at either opened door by:
Power locks:Activating the electric door lock switch to the lock position.
Manual door locks: Depressing the door lock button to the lock position. Both buttons must be depresses before the system will arm. When the last door is closed the system is armed.

Disarming the system: The system is disarmed by unlocking either door with the key or by turning the ignition on. Alarm shut down is accomplished only by unlocking the door with the key.
If the driver wants to prevent arming the system after using the "door lock" rocker switch, the switch can be moved to the unlock position before closing all the doors. He may also cancel the arming process by rotating the ignition switch to the "ON" position, then back to lock. Rotating the ignition switch will not cancel the alarm once it is activated.
The doors may be locked mechanically using the door key without arming the system. The door key will disarm and deactivate the system. The ignition key in the ignition lock can only disarm the system.
Automatic Shut Down:
Once the alarm has been activated, the starter interrupt relay will be energized and the alarm will continue to operate for a period of 3 to 7 mins. At the end of the time out period, the alarm will automatically shut off to conserve battery power and, if the locks have not been damaged, the system will rearm itself. However, once the system has been activated, the starter interrupt relay will remain energized until the proper disarming sequence is initiated.
Hope this helps!. Sarge

Thanks Sarge

The information you supplied was exactly right, I can arm and disarm the system now and it is working correctly, I was starting to doubt it worked but your information filled in the blanks.

Thanks Again
81 VetteMan


I really am thankful for everyone's help with this issue..Cheers to you all!!

|UPDATED|10/21/2002 7:39:22 PM|/UPDATED|

I'm glad that I could help. That is great that the alarm system is functioning properly. I found out the hard way that my car had a factory alarm system....I reached inside the car to pull the lock button, because I had locked it by habit,(windows down) DUH! And man...the horn starts blowing, and I had no clue how to shut the darn thing off!! Boy, did I feel like an a$$! But on the brighter side of things, I called my insurance guy and let him know the car had an alarm. And I got a small discount on my premium.
Sarge

Sarge81

I do plan on checking with my insurance for that discount,and I also felt like a a$$ when I set it off the first time with everyone looking and I didn't know how to turn it off, plus the fact that I didn't know it had one till then.

Thanks again for the information.