T Nation

Removing Car Alarm

Off Topic
#1

I recently purchased a mid 90s nissan that came with a prestige alarm, which has proven to be of super annoyance. Basically I want to permanently disable it and was wondering if there is an easy way to do it.

I see no switches for it under the panelling in the car, however I see a black box which I presume is the system since just about every visible wire feeds into it. This box also has 2 fuses leading to it, if I remove those would it disable the alarm? I believe this alarm was a factory install.

Here’s a bit of info on why I need it removed…

It disables power to everything somehow, so I cannot start the car, turn the lights on or nothing. This seems to happen for no reason, this morning I went to start it and nothing, same as if batterry was totally dead, BUT the little red LED light on the dash for the alarm was flashing, which only flashes when the car is disabled. To remedy this I have to unhook the live cables on the battery and let it sit for over an hr, rehook it up, at which point hte full effect of the alarm will show, with flashing lights and all, I press button on keychain to turn that off and then start car.

This has happend a few times and the first time I had no fucking clue what was going on and ended up leaving my car on the side of a road thinking it was broke down. (I had stalled at a light and somehow the fucking alarm cut the power to everything after I stalled).

thanks in advance.

#2

Yeah more than likely that box took a dump if it’s doing all that crazy stuff. That or a ground is loose or there’s a short. Check all the wires around to box to make sure there’s no burn marks, and that any wires bolted directly to the body are nice and tight.

If you pull the alarm box, make sure you don’t rip out any wiring that’s supposed to be there. A wiring diagram of the car would help during this procedure. You could always try to pull the fuses for the alarm, but keep them close by in case the car won’t start, which is likely to happen.

Sorry if this isn’t very specific. Diagnosing car troubles online is quite the pain in the ass.

#3

I had a very similar problem with my 2003 Hyundai Sonata. I eventually gave up and had it towed to a dealership for repair. They said it was a wiring issue and was a very easy fix.

I’m not exactly sure what triggered this whole thing to start, I had driven over 40,000 incident free miles prior to the alarm going apeshit all the time. In any case, I’d recommend just bringing it in, instead of trying to remove it yourself.