[200q20v] alarm problems; dash top removal

[steve_scalmanini at agilent.com]

Does anyone know how to get at (and strangle???) the alarm 
control unit? 

The alarm on my 200q20v has been triggering in the middle of 
the night since a fender-bender two weeks ago.  The problem is 
not simply the hood switch (hood's bent so doesn't fit normally, 
so I disconnected the switch and the alarm still triggered ' next 
morning ... at 7:30 instead of 4:30, fortunately.) So now I can't 
lock my car without risking the alarm going off at any time.  I 
can disconnect the battery, or course, which is what I'm now doing. 
(Maybe removing fuse 2 is preferable but I haven't traced what else 
that'll disable yet.) 

Last night I tried to disable the system at the alarm controller 
and stopped in frustration after 3-4 hours trying to reach it.  
It's apparently on the -FRONT- side of the dash board casting on 
the passenger side.  You can see it if you remove the wood grain 
trim from that side.  To reach it, you allegedly have to remove 
the "instrument panel top" per the deceptively understated headnote 
on Bentley p. 97.11a.  

I've got the rear (closest to steering wheel) of the dash top loose 
(only 4(?) bolts: 2(?) under the wood-grain trim, and 1 under each
of the false speaker panels) but now I don't know what to do.  I'm 
afraid to pull it too hard away from the windshield for fear of 
breaking something.  Each end is loose (by the A-pillars) but the 
center seems still attached (assumedly to the hose that supplies the 
interior air temperature sensor motor, and maybe the defrost vent).  

Does anyone know what to do at this point? 

I searched and found Chris Miller's posts from when he bought his 
200q20v ("Well, my mechanic still cannot locate the alarm module 
in my '91 200q sedan. ...).  Chris' website has "alarm" as an 
unlinked heading among the old links on the Repair Procedure Index 
page, so that didn't help. ' searched Scott Mockry's site for 
"alarm" and found nothing.  Chris, how did you finally solve your 
alarm problem?


TIA, 

Steve