Car Alarms: Factory Alarm Battery Drain, side kick panel, bright test

Question
Hi!
I just bought a 1991 Jeep Cherokee Limited.  

It has a serious battery drain on it that kills a brand new battery overnight!  Bright test light and 5-14 amp draw.

I have determined that it is in the FACTORY (Chrysler symbol on control unit under dash) alarm system.  

When I unplug the connector at the control unit under the dash, I no longer have ANY drain on the battery.  But then, of course, I can't start the Jeep.

This has taken me DAYS to figure out, and I'm very frustrated at the lack of information "out there" on these alarms.

I want NO part of the alarm!!!  How do I shut it down for good so it doesn't drain the battery, and my wife has to stop connecting/disconnecting the battery every time she parks???  UUUGGGHHH!!!

THANKS in advance.

BOB

Answer
Normally, you would insert the key in
the drivers door, turn left, then right
to disarm and reset it. If your is malfunctioning,
you can disable it for good by doing the following:

The FACTORY ALARM DISARM WIRE IS green/orange |-|
in the driver's side kick panel,

Once Located, splice into it with
a simular guage wire, and put it to
a solid chassis ground. This terminates
the alarm functions entirely.

Now, if this is NOT the culprit,
You may be dealing with and aftermarket
alarm with a starter kill relay inline.
If no joy with the factory defeat, try this:

Put the key in the ignition, and turn forward
all the way just before cranking. Then within
5 seconds, locate, press and hold in the
valet/overide button, found under the
dash area, (push button, spring loaded)
until the installed LED (the blinking light)
in your dash area goes on solid,
and the siren chirps once.

(Your valet switch might be the toggle
(on/off) type. in this case, key on,
flip switch in opposite direction,
then turn the key off.)

This should reset the alarm, and reset
the grounded relay on the starter wire,
allowing you to start the engine.

At this point, the only thing working would
be the keyless entry from the alarm,
if it came equipped that way.

Just Repeat these steps to place it
back to usable armed mode.
You may get 2 chirps, confirming it,
and the lights may flash twice as well.

That should do it.
If you want to remove it at this point,
take it to your neighborhood installer
for this, or buy the wiring chart
(Go to: www.vehiclewires.com)
for the vehicle, and reverse engineer it wire
by wire, until safely removed.

If it does not work out this way,
you will have to replace the system
with one you know how to operate
and what to expect. Don't want to
get stuck in another bad situation.

Let me know what happens.

Robert Martin/CEO-ALARMTEK
DELUXESERVICE.com