Help! The alarm on my 1994 Chrysler Town and Country went off and I can't stop it!

Factual Questions
1

I have had this minivan for two years. I have always known this car was supposed to have an alarm. I tried it a few times but was never able to get it to work. I would prefer to have it disconnected.

As far as I know, I did nothing different this morning to arm it. When I tried to open my car door after work, it went off. At first I thought I must have somehow gotten into the wrong car. I searched frantically for a button to push that would turn it off, but to no avail.

Eventually, the alarm stopped, but now the car won’t start. It is stuck in the parking lot at work. I had to walk home.

Does anyone know what I have to do to shut this alarm off? I searched my drawers and found I have one of those old keychain remote control unlocking things that I beleive the alarm was hooked to. With the key ring at the top, it is black, it has three blue/green buttons. One button is big at the center, the other two are smaller to the upper right, and the upper left.

I have a 1994 chrysler town and country. Is there anyone that can help me free my car?

2

Have you tried putting the key in the driver’s side door again and turning it? If there is no alarm button on your remote, this is the most common way to turn it off.

Otherwise, pop the hood and disconnect the battery, and hope it doesn’t go off again.

3

You need a new battery. The alarm will get “excited” if the battery loses its charge such as yours did. I had the same problem my car and the only thing I could do was to disconnect the battery and buy a new one.

4

I install car alarms and mobile electronics for a living; I can help.

Turning the key in the driver’s door cylinder will disarm factory alarms, but not aftermarket ones. And it sounds like yours is aftermarket.

Is there a small red flashing LED on the dash somewhere?

Look in the general vicinity of the driver’s kick panel, or the driver’s underdash. You might have to get down on your knees, maybe with a good flashlight. You’re looking for a small pushbutton or toggle switch.

Each brand of alarm is different, but most are overridden by doing something like this:

Insert ignition key; turn to Run position.

Right away, turn the toggle switch to the on position, or push and hold the pushbutton switch.

If the dash-mounted LED comes on and stays on steady, without flashing, you’ve successfully disarmed the alarm and put it into Valet mode. The car should now start.

If that doesn’t work:

You’ll need to find the alarm’s brain. It should be well hidden to prevent tampering by the theif, but most installations are usually priced too low to allow this, and the installer simply mounts the brain in the first accessible spot under the driver’s dash.

It will help if you can find the wires coming from the LED or valet switch, and following them to their source. Or just look for any wiring that doesn’t look factory. The brain itself will likely be black, plastic, and about the size of a thick paperback novel. It will probably be zip-tied to a factory wiring harness.

On one of the harnesses coming from the brain, you’ll see one or more fuses. Remove the fuse, and attempt to start the car.

If none of that works, get back to me, and I’ll help all I can.

5

That’s not true. I have a 2002 (2001?) Cavilier (POS). If you arm the alarm, it will go off if the door is opened and the remote was not used to unlock the doors. So if I get out of the car and hit the lock button on my remote (and arm the system) and come back later and unlock the car by using the key in the driver side door the alarm will sound when I open the door. So basically if the car is armed the only way to disarm is to unlock with the remote or turn the ignition to run. And it is a factory alarm.

6

Joey, that is interesting. And I should have put out the disclaimer that my experience applies to most cars, but probably not 100%.

I have seen, in one local Chevy dealer’s parts display case, a GM car alarm, purchased separately. Perhaps your car has something like this? Do you know if the alarm was a factory option, or possibly dealer installed?

7

Check out:
http://www.allexperts.com/BoardDetail.asp?MessageID=604636&listpage=1

They discuss removing a fuse, if applicable.

Otherwise, I’d check with a mechanic, if you can.

8

I had a similar problem with an aftermarket alarm in my car recently. I simply found the fuse (which was surprisingly easy btw - no wonder it’s so easy for people to steal cars) and ripped it out and never bothered replacing it.

9

The alarm is factory installed. It also has a passive theft deterent system. That is, if there’s no key in the ignition, the fuel pump won’t run. (Which means if you install a remote starter, you have to buy another module to bypass that).

10

It looks as though the alarm was factory installed. The solution was to press the big green button on the little keychain I had. The alarm made a squeeky sound that I have never heard my car make before. I could then open the car door and start the car without waking the neighborhood.

Unfortunately it looks llike my problem is electrical. While the car alarm was probably factory installed, the electrical wiring is creative at best. I have had problems with the break lights not turning off as well. Thank you for the help.

Christopher