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alarm reset

tanthony

New Member
Joined
August 31, 2002
Messages
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City, State
scottsdale, az
Year, Model & Trim Level
'96 EB
I pulled the ignition switch out of my 96 EB Explorer and the factory alarm went off (yes it was off before I pulled it). Nothing would turn it off so i ended up pulling the battery cable off. I put the new switch back in, hooked up the battery and the alarm started up again. How do I reset this thing, my neighbors are a little perturbed.

TIA
 



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Your battery should have been disconnected before you removed the ignition switch. Why did you leave the battery connected?

Your alarm system now thinks somebody tried to hot wire the vehicle.

How to disable the alarm? Not sure. I'd start by leaving the battery disconnected with the headlights turned on for a long time to make sure all juice is drained from the electrical system. Remove and reinstall the ignition switch just to make sure it's in there right. Reconnect the battery. If the alarm goes off, try locking and unlocking the driver's door with the key. If that doesn't stop it, try cranking the engine.

If that still doesn't work. I'd reinstall the old ignition switch and see what happens. I cannot find any info in the Ford service manual, except that the battery should have been disconnected before removing the switch.
 






If the above doesn't work, I think you'll have to have it towed to a Ford dealership. After searching some more, I found the the anti-theft system can store in memory that the system was triggered, and as soon as power is reapplied to the system it sets itself off. It looks like the system has to be connected to their computer to remove it from memory.
 






That's basically the same information I read. If the RAPS detects that either the ignition was "slammed" or hot-wired wether the alarm was armed or not, it will go into the protection mode that will prevent your Explorer from starting. It doesn't say how to clear it but it does say that using your key, remote or keypad will not clear the condition. I doubt if leaving your battery disconnected overnight will clear it either if it is anything like the ABS computer. It has either a large capacitor or other source to store power for much longer than the night I left the battery disconnected. I have a feeling you will have to have it towed to Ford to have them clear it.
 






I recently set off my alarm system while doing some detailing. I unlocked the rear liftgate with a key (I'm not used to having a remote entry thingy yet) and the horn blared. I silenced it by pressing a button on the key fob remote. Not knowing any better, and since it really isn't explained in the Owner's Manual, I thought this deactivated the alarm. Apparently, it only silences it. I guess when I went too long without starting the engine with the key, the computer got the message that the car had been broken into, so it disabled the engine. It would crank and crank, but would not fire even once. After a week of trying to figure out what was wrong, a friend with a professional analyzer (SnapOn) came over and read the codes. He said "This says 'Engine Disabled by Security System,' what's that all about?" I said (nicely, of course), "Please just shut up and clear the code, Pleeeze." He did, and it started on the first spin. Doh!

The owner's manual really doesn't say much about what to do if you set off the alarm. I couldn't find anything about it disabling the engine anywhere in my book.

But I guess I know now!
 






Did you try the over ride yet? There is a small button installed somewhere on the driver's side. You must put the key in, turn the ignition on, then press the over ride button to make it ignore all other commands. Hope that helps. By the way, I have seen that button installed on the kick panel, laying behind the carpet, and other places. I take that it's a Ford Alarm.
 






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