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Disarming the Factory Alarm Issue

56K views 40 replies 15 participants last post by  OoTLink 
#1 ·
I hate to post something that has been brought up before, but this problem to me, still seems somewhat unresolved.

I did a search in the Forum and noticed several post/topics which are similar, but I thought I would see if anyone else has gotten a better resolution.

1. Came out this morning to open the car, and when I hit the Unlock button on the keyfob nothing worked. Could not get the door to unlock with the fob at all. Car was purchased on 2/23/06, and built on 2/06, so the battery surely was not dead.

2. My second key fob was regrettably at the office, about 2 miles away, so after standing there for 5 minutes, I basically had no good choice but to unlock and open the car with the actual key in the door method, which of course, as we all know, set off the alarm.

3. Biggest annoyance to me was, that when I started the car with the key, the alarm kept going off, contrary to what the Owner's Manual says on page 23..."Also using a valid sentry key and moving the ignition switch to the on/start position will disarm the system".

4. Actually resorted to driving 2 miles, with the alarm going off ( people on the street surely thought it was a stolen car at that point ) to get the other key fob at the office. Got there, and the 2nd fob ( which had never been used - so the battery should have worked ) did not disarm the alarm either.

5. Called the dealer from the office, who tells me that "they guess they will have to tow it in". I said, no you won't, because the car starts and drives just fine, except for the alarm going off.

6. So at this point the alarm/horn/lights all have been going off a good 10 minutes, ( also contrary to what the Owner's manual says...Page 22..."the system will turn off the horn after 3 minutes....") and finally, after repeatedly trying both keyfobs to try to Lock/Unlock the doors, pressing, amazing one keyfob works and holding the PANIC button for a good 3 seconds, the alarm finally goes off.

7. Now for no apparent reason, both key fobs started working again fine, and I can now unlock/lock the car with either keyfob to my heart's content. I really think that our HAL has the same glitch as the 2001 version.( the movie of course ;).

I logged on, did a search and noticed several folks had similar problems, and had offered several solutions that all seemed fob battery related.

A. So I checked for the battery connection, loose connection in the key fob. I took my fob apart, and no loose connection to be found. So that took that out of the equation.

B. Somebody else posted that they had on a couple of occasions experienced what they believed to be RF frequency interference which effectively "disabled" their key fob, and they had to resort to the use actual key/open door/set off alarm, no way to disable it approach. In my situation, I was parked in the exact same place in my driveway, and there is nothing new built in the area, so I don't think the RF interference should have been the culprit either.

Guess after all this typing ( sorry for the long winded frustration post ) my basic problem is that it does not seem that anyone has figured out how to disarm the Alarm WITHOUT a functional key fob.

In other words, if your parked 200 miles from the wife's keyfob, or the dealer, and you drop your keys while walking up to the car, and break the keyfob, well, you are going to have to drive 200 miles with the alarm going off, because there does not seem to be away to disarm the alarm without a working fob. Anyone?

That just does not make sense, especially with what is written in the manual.
 
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#2 ·
The same thing happened to me. I think (?) I pushed the panic button on the key and the alarm went off. Tried the manual, did what it said (some of the instructions made no sense at all) turned the start on and off, drove around the neighborhood with the horn blowing, lights blinking etc. Someone called the police, couldn't turn the damn thing off. Drove home to get a wrench to remove the battery cable and the thing went silent all by itself. The whole event went for about ten minutes. Dealer told me you can drive the car with the alarm blaring - doesn't sound right to me.

06 Brilliant Black R/T, R/T factory pkg, Sirius, Nav system, side air bags, sunroof, Bluetooth, Mopar CAI, auto headlight mod, seat belt chime mod, 35% tint, Bell Pro RX65, exterior window shades, chin spoiler, red R/T grille badge, hood props, RK trunk spoiler (reworked by my body shop), mud flaps, wiper/lights on programmed, SS exhaust tips

98 Chrysler LXi (300,000 miles)
99 Chevy Lumina (130,000 miles)
 
#4 ·
JustForFun said:
Pull the alarm fuse?

JFF:D
Hmm....never thought of that, in my panic mode. Don't know if it would work. Have you tried/done it, pull the fuse that is.

When I called the Dealer ( he could hear the horn in the background thru the office window - good horn btw..:) he did not suggest the fuse either.

I asked him if he knew of a quick way to get it shut off, and I think it stumped him too.
 
#5 ·
blzcrzr said:
The same thing happened to me. I think (?) I pushed the panic button on the key and the alarm went off.
Yes, I think I saw you had a previous similar post to this issue.

Weird thing is that the Owner's Manual does not seem to say that to turn the Alarm off, to use the Panic button.

To me it makes sense to hit the Panic Button to turn OFF the Panic alert, but not to turn of the "alarm".

Plus you really have to push and HOLD the panic button to turn it off. At least the manual did say that part correct, the push and HOLD for at least 1 second.

Oh, and to make matters a bit stranger, the Manual says on Page 21..."the panic alarm will say on for 3 minutes unless you turn it off by pressing the Panic Button a second time, or if the vehicle speed is 15 mph or greater".

Reason I bring that up, is that on my "panicked" drive to work with thet Alarm blaring, that the drive was more than 3 minutes and the speed was DEFINATELY greater than 15 mph, and the "panic" alarm was still on.

So to me that means I definately didn't hit the panic button by mistake to start the alarm, which at one point I thought I had done.
 
#6 ·
OH yeah. Forgot to say when it happened to me it blew out one of the horns.


06 Brilliant Black R/T, R/T factory pkg, Sirius, Nav system, side air bags, sunroof, Bluetooth, Mopar CAI, auto headlight mod, seat belt chime mod, 35% tint, Bell Pro RX65, exterior window shades, chin spoiler, red R/T grille badge, hood props, RK trunk spoiler (reworked by my body shop), mud flaps, wiper/lights on programmed, SS exhaust tips

98 Chrysler LXi (300,000 miles)
99 Chevy Lumina (130,000 miles)
 
#7 ·
Almost sounds to me like the panic button was stuck in the down position--like it was pushed once and never released--I wonder if the contacts in the panic button are too close together causing it to stay on. It would make sense that since by holding down the button it should shut off, but that may only work if it makes a connection once, is released, then makes a connection again and is held. If it never released from the first connection it might not trigger the hold-off function.

Also, that might be why it doesn't shut off after 3 minutes--it might have been in a constant activation loop.

Was there ever a time when all the key fobs in question were out of range of the car? If so that would rule out whether the fob was sending some sort of confusing signal to the car.

Z
 
#8 ·
The alarm is ARMED and DISARMED by the fob... if you arm with the fob and open with the key, you get an alarm, because the key in the door DOESN'T disarm it. The key in the ignition and turned to ON should disarm it, however.

Locking the door with the key DOESN'T arm the alarm either... you can arm it by pressing the lock before closing the door, I think.

It sounds to me that it's not as simple as a dead battery in your fob. Someone else (NECharger, I think) had the rf reciever in his car go bad, IIRC. But yout alarm should have turned off when you started the car! His DID turn off. So perhaps you have yet another problem...

Get thee to thy dealer! :nervous s
 
#9 ·
I have not tried this with this car, but in the past I have done this. If you have locked your self out of your vehicle and you have a phone and someone you know has access to a spare remote(keyless entry), call them. Have them use the remote very close to the phone while you hold your phone up and near your car. Should unlock/disarm your car.
 
#10 ·
HemiChemi said:
. The key in the ignition and turned to ON should disarm it, however.

. So perhaps you have yet another problem...

Get thee to thy dealer! :nervous s
The key in the ignition not turning off the alarm worries me the most.

I am taking it to the dealer this week, for the 3k oil change, and am going to have them look into it, but I bet that I get the old..."everything is fine" response.

I actually wonder how many of us, have really tried to set off the alarm on purpose, and then use the key to turn it off. I thought I read in a couple of other post, that some folks were getting, well, various success rates.
 
#11 ·
Zandian said:
Almost sounds to me like the panic button was stuck in the down position--.

Was there ever a time when all the key fobs in question were out of range of the car? If so that would rule out whether the fob was sending some sort of confusing signal to the car.

Z
I am 99.9% certain I didn't hit the Panic button, so I don't think it stuck, but then again, maybe I panicked...:smile:

I remember walking out, hitting the unlock button on the fob, and noticing that the lights did not blink. I tried the fob unlock button again, closer ( 2 feet away ) to the car, and still no light, and the door lock did not go up. I waited like a minute and tried the fob again, still nothing.


The other fob was at work, but I park about 25 feet from the rear of the office window, my office, and you would think that the other fob was in range, at least during the day, when the car was sitting outside.
 
#12 · (Edited)
SRT_8er said:
I am 99.9% certain I didn't hit the Panic button, so I don't think it stuck, but then again, maybe I panicked...:smile:

I remember walking out, hitting the unlock button on the fob, and noticing that the lights did not blink. I tried the fob unlock button again, closer ( 2 feet away ) to the car, and still no light, and the door lock did not go up. I waited like a minute and tried the fob again, still nothing.


The other fob was at work, but I park about 25 feet from the rear of the office window, my office, and you would think that the other fob was in range, at least during the day, when the car was sitting outside.
If it does it again, try operating the fob with it pressed against the side of your head (temple). Trust me - this is a kewl trick! :D

Also - it is possible that the time you were away from your car, the button was pressed (in your pocket) by something else - either repetedly, or continuously for a length of time. This could have thrown the code out a bit when used again by the car.
 
#13 ·
arfur said:
If it does it again, try operating the fob with it pressed against the side of your head (temple). Trust me - this is a kewl trick! :D

...
<in my best Jimmy Fallon Bahston accent:>

Yawr retahdid!
 
#18 ·
HemiChemi said:
<in my best Jimmy Fallon Bahston accent:>

Yawr retahdid!
No, he is right. The FOB transmit in all directions. A portion of the RF signal will reflect off your body towards the car. It is better to face the car and hold it under your chin though.

My FOB batteries only last about 1 1/2 years (Excessive usage). I do this when the FOB battery is getting low.
 
#19 ·
HKLEVI said:
I have not tried this with this car, but in the past I have done this. If you have locked your self out of your vehicle and you have a phone and someone you know has access to a spare remote(keyless entry), call them. Have them use the remote very close to the phone while you hold your phone up and near your car. Should unlock/disarm your car.
Hahahaha, that's a good one. I'm sure it's urban legend.
 
#20 ·
jazzy69 said:
No, he is right. The FOB transmit in all directions. A portion of the RF signal will reflect off your body towards the car. It is better to face the car and hold it under your chin though.

My FOB batteries only last about 1 1/2 years (Excessive usage). I do this when the FOB battery is getting low.
No. Your body isn't an RF reflective material.

If yours is, you will have other issues.
 
#21 ·
All I know is that I can increase the range of any of my blippers by placing the device against my head. Don't believe me - then try it. Go so far away from your car to a point where you know the dorrs won't lock/unlock and try the blipper. When it isn't working, put against head, activate the blipper again....... and Roberts your dad's brother! :grin:

Does it on my car, gate and garage fobs.....I have no idea of the physics behind it - it's just kewl! :headbang:
 
#22 ·
joescat said:
No. Your body isn't an RF reflective material.

If yours is, you will have other issues.
Finally! Another voice of reason.

I also don't believe the cell phone trick. The cell phone signal would have to carry and reproduce the rf the fob is putting out. I'd need to see this before I'd believe it, and prolly not even then.

Arfur is still retahdid!
 
#23 ·
arfur said:
All I know is that I can increase the range of any of my blippers by placing the device against my head. Don't believe me - then try it. Go so far away from your car to a point where you know the dorrs won't lock/unlock and try the blipper. When it isn't working, put against head, activate the blipper again....... and Roberts your dad's brother! :grin:

Does it on my car, gate and garage fobs.....I have no idea of the physics behind it - it's just kewl! :slapper:
Ummm.... maybe it's just because it's HIGHER!
 
#25 ·
HemiChemi said:
Ummm.... maybe it's just because it's HIGHER!
Yeah, "HIGHER" is the "key" word (no pun intended). Or, maybe intended after all, the way it came out.
 
#26 ·
Well, I cant speak to the fob thing, but I do know my body does sometimes interfere with some regular radio signals. Weird, but just by moving around the stationary radio, sometimes reception gets bad, depending on where I move. So a body can affect radio waves. RF in the band that fobs use? Damned if I know.
 
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