FyVe

iTrader: (1)

So I've come to the conclusion that my alarm is draining my battery. Left town for a week, came back and my car was completely dead and not giving any signs of life. no lights nothing even remotely on. First thing that happens when i give it a jump is the alarm triggers me to put in the code to deactivate it (it's one of those Clifford types with the two little buttons to enter a code). I go ahead and deactivate it and all's great. Problem is that the alarm stopped working a while back and it was only triggering me to put in the code if my inside dome light was clicked on 'on' [position where opening a door would normally turn the light on]. Now it did it even while in the 'off' position.
My question is this: Should unplugging everything from the brain of my alarm keep it from trying to suck juice from the battery? Or should I just try and replace the brain with an exact model and have the remote reprogrammed to the new brain? Is this possibly the best solution? Clifford offers 'lifetime warranty' but apparently they won't warranty anything that doesn't have a receipt from the original place purchased/installed, which I do not. (plus the two buttons for the deactivation are already built into the center console in a somewhat clean installation that almost looks stock).

j9fd3s

iTrader: (3)

step 1 is to remove the alarm put the car back to stock, and see if it fixes it. i've found most alarm systems are pretty lousy and they are usually installed really horribly too.

but yes, to start you remove any non factory stuff

adam c

iTrader: (2)

I have a Clifford alarm, and went thru a similar scenario. At first it would drain the battery, and I thought the brain was bad. Clifford replaced the brain under warranty, but the battery drain didnt go away.

The solution was really simple. I wired in an on/off power switch to the alarm, and installed it under the dash (out of sight). I turn the switch on only when I want to use the alarm, which isnt that often since the car is garaged. The problem was completely solved with a $3 switch.

FyVe

iTrader: (1)

So would you say that unplugging the brain would at least tell me if it is the alarm draining it or would I have to check the full alarm wiring? Looks like an awful lot of wires lol. Would anyone know what the significance of having the dome light on causing the alarm to work (except the remote still won't work and immobilizer won't work but the alarm horn sounds) as opposed to having it set to off where the alarm won't work? Is this some sort of wiring problem possibly?

Also, unrelated issue but if I can knock it out in one thread power to me - one of my headlights started acting up by only going up in stages then suddenly won't go up anymore. How do I check if the motor is dead? Just check if the wires are getting power?