Nissan Repair: 1994 Nissan Altima security system?, neutral safety switch, nissan altima

Question
Can you explain how the factory security system works on the '94 Altima? Our daughter's doesn't have remote entry, so no keyfob. What I can tell from the owner's manual is the system is triggered if the doors are opened without unlocking them. When the alarm is triggered the horn sounds and the headlights flash, and the car will not start. And to disable it you have to put the key in the door and unlock it. We had an incident where the battery went dead once, I think because of the alarm. When I tried to jump start it the relay for the alarm kept clicking and the car would not start. As the battery charged from the other vehicle the lights started flashing and the horn started sounding. I read the owners manual and found that I had to deactivate the alarm first by turning the key in the door. I was able to jump start it and the battery has held a charge ever since. Nothing was left turned on, so I think the alarm drained the battery. Shouldn't the alarm stop sounding after a short time and prevent a dead battery? Also, just the other day the car would not start but the battery was charged. She had just gone into a store for a minute and the car wouldn't start when she came out. All the accessories worked fine, it just wouldn't turn over or even click. My daughter had a friend try to jump start it but it still wouldn't do anything. When my wife showed up later it started right up without jumping it. I suspect the security system may have caused this. Can the security system prevent starting without sounding the alarm? Do we have a faulty security system? Can that be fixed, or can we disable it? Or could we have a bad starter causing it to not want to turn over?  

Answer
Steve,

If the battery is fully charged and you disable the alarm with the door key then the starter is probably defective if the starter interlock is not messed up.  That is, try starting the car while shifting from park to neutral.  If it starts replace the neutral safety switch.  If not, replace the starter.