Car Alarms: 1998 Ford F150 false alarms, dash area, false alarms

Question
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Followup To
Question -
I have a 1998 F150 with a factory Keyless Entry/Alarm.  Only two repairs in seven years: new coil pack, and replace the column shifter because the overdrive button stopped working.

Over the last several months the alarm has started to False Alarm, at least once per day, and usually when the alarm is NOT armed, just parked in the garage doors unlocked.  It also happens when it is armed though not as often.  Over the past few weeks the alarm goes off as soon as I pull the key out of the ignition, while I'm still sitting in the truck about 50% of the time.

I'm frustrated, the alarm worked great the first six years now it goes off all the time, with no apparent pattern.  Any help or ideas you have will be greatly appreicated.

Thanks,
JP




Answer -
This sounds as if the alarm is doing it's job
and was set off recently. Try going into and out of
valet to reset it.

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
www.CARALARMINSTALLER.com


Thanks for responding so quickly.
This 1998 ford has no valet mode, no button of any type under the dash.  Also, the engine starts fine.  Any other ideas on what might be causing the constant false alarms?  It's like the alarm is getting a signal from the panic button.  But the alarm falses when the key fobs are well out of range.

Thanks,
JP  

Answer
Somewhere the alarm is readying a trigger, maybe a constant signal, maybe an open circuit and the alarm is detecting the
battery drain, sounding the alarm.

Look around, especially at the dome light, the door triggers etc... and see if you can detect anything there.
If not, you can locate the factory alarm disarm wire, splice into it and ground it directly to the chassis.

This permanantly disables the factory alarm.

Let me know what you find.

ALARMTEK