Disconnect Battery and Car Alarm Won't Shut Off - Ford Muscle Forums : Ford Muscle Cars Tech Forum

jrosengarth · 10-26-2007, 07:59 AM

I added another Ford product to my stable yesterday (2001 Mercury Mountaineer w/ 5.0L), and at the time I picked it up I had to change the A/C pump out. To do this I had to remove the battery.

So I get everything back in and go to connect the battery (positive first, then negative), and the car alarm starts going off like as if I just hot-wired it! I had the key, so I put it in and tried to see if turning it on with the key would shut it up, but it didn't! I couldn't even start the thing!!

At this point I disconnected the battery again and went online to see how to stop this from happening, and found:

"Hold the #1 button down on the keyless entry remote while connecting the battery."

I did this, and it worked...BUT THIS IS STUPID!! My concern is what if the keyless remote gets lost/broken/battery dies...etc... What if I don't HAVE a keyless remote, how then can I change the battery lets say??

Does anyone know how stop the car alarm with out the remote, and better yet, how to disable this b***s**t so it doesn't do that??

This is the newest car I have ever owned, and it may be the last if this keeps up...
-J

FEandGoingBroke · 10-26-2007, 08:10 AM

I fully understand your pain.

The ONLY way to circumvent this system from disabling your car when you change the battery should you have a broken/lost remote is to totally uninstall it from your car, OR... Alway's jumper your power to another carbattery before taking yours out, that way it does not activate.

FE

jrosengarth · 10-26-2007, 08:21 AM

That's depressing... WTF was Ford thinking??
-J

PaulS1950 · 10-26-2007, 08:29 PM

Ford was thinking about the guy who is going to steal your car - not the guy who owns it.

1969SCode · 10-26-2007, 09:51 PM

I assume you have a factory alarm, which is not so easily uninstalled. I remove aftermarket alarms from cars all the time, lost remotes, or they bought the car and didn't even know it had a alarm until it wouldn't start one day or started making noise. The aftermarket alarms will have a bypass switch hidden somwewhere under the dash. You can usually disable them this way. As Gary suggested connecting a remote power source may help also. I have a nifty tool that plugs a 9 volt battery in to the cigarette lighter, its purpose is to save clock and radio presets during a service but may work on your alarm issue as well.

Blulakr · 10-26-2007, 10:29 PM

It sounds like you have an aftermarket alarm causing your trouble. The factory alarm, if working properly, won't go off when the battery is changed.

I have seen many vehicles equipped with aftermarket alarms when they already have a factory alarm. Factory stuff rarely gives you trouble. Aftermarket crap usually does.

If you have a "theft" light in the inst. cluster and\or a thick black ignition key, you have passive anti-theft. That means you can't start the vehicle without a programmed key. Most Fords after about 1998 have this.

That won't prevent someone from breaking into your rig. You should also have factory "perimiter" anti-theft. There should be a light that blinks once every 2 seconds when you shut and lock the doors. This will sound the horn and blink the lights if a door is opened without disarming.

Look under the dash for "butt" connectors and\or "scotch-lock" connectors with wires leading to a box that is zip-tied in place. that will be an aftermarket alarm. If you feel comfortable doing so, remove it.

let me know if you need more help

FEandGoingBroke · 10-26-2007, 10:33 PM

I friggin LOVE the 9V battery in the lighter plug! THat's BRILLIANT!

I want one Ron! Where'd ya get it?

jrosengarth · 10-27-2007, 10:54 AM

Thanks for the suggestions, and based on your questions, I have dug deeper and found a few things.

I did find an aftermarket alarm had been installed. I pulled the cover off the underside of the dash on the driver side and found a mess of wires rather poorly spliced together going to a non-Ford black box. Maybe I can figure out where the factory wires got cut and re-splice them back together and get rid of this. Or, if i can figure out who made it I can find a manual that will help me get along and live with it.

The next thing I need to do is pull the radio (I would like to swap in an aftermarket unit) but for now I'm scared to. Is there crap these systems that will lock up the car if the same radio isn't detected, or if I pull the dash?? Pretty soon the seats are going to take a photocopy of your a$$ and it'll have to match before the car will start, sheesh! (And I bought this instead of the 64 Fairlane...

). I'm not used to working on ANYTHING with this alarm stuff in it, so I may be back with more questions. As always, thanks for the help!
-J

dennis111 · 10-27-2007, 12:01 PM

Since you found a non-ford black box, did you find an inline fuse going to it? Possibly all you need is to remove power to the device and then you won't have any more problems from it.

Blulakr · 10-27-2007, 05:21 PM

The radio is not tied into any factory alarm system. Rip-away.

Be careful when disabling\removing the aftermarket alarm. They sometimes have a starter interrupt that will cause a no-crank. You will see wires from the ignition switch on the column that are cut and spliced into the aftermarket alarm box. It's easy enough to re-splice all the factory wiring together. Just re-attatch same color wires in the factory harness.