Alarm going a bit nuts

[mosschief]

I've got a 2005 ford explorer that, before this, hasn't had many problems.

Over the past couple weeks, my alarm has been going off every once in a while when I try to start the car. Up until recently, I could easily turn off the alarm by locking and unlocking the car, and then my car would start.

Last night, I parked on the street and went to dinner, and when I came back my keyless entry wouldn't work. So, naturally, I used the key to get in the car. But when I started the car, the alarm went off for about a minute and nothing I could do, except waiting, would turn it off. I went through this procedure several times, trying different configurations of locking and unlocking the doors in hopes it would deactivate the alarm, to no avail. Finally, exhausted, I decided to take the bus home.

This morning, I came back to my car and replaced the battery in my keyless entry clicker, in hopes that would help the situation. Unfortunately it didn't, keyless entry still didn't work and the alarm still went off when I tried to start it.

After a couple of times of trying it again, the alarm stopped going off, but the car still wouldn't start. When you turn the key to on position the air conditioner and lights and everything else works, but turning it to start does absolutely nothing now. The anti-theft light is still blinking the entire time too.

I also had a friend try to jump start me, thinking the erratic alarm behavior might be due to a low battery, but that did nothing.

Any help would be appreciated, street cleaning happens next Thursday and I'd rather not have to get it towed!

Thanks in advance,
Sean

 

[Kazer]

sounds like a problem with your Central Security Module or a problem with your Pats system. not much help here....sorry

 

[mosschief]

no ideas?

Nobody has any ideas of things I could try just to get her started?

 

[mosschief]

well, do you guys think it's worth a shot to try replacing the csm myself, or should I just have the shop look at it?

 

[Kazer]

The csm is behind the passenger side, second row body panel, right below the seatbelt. If you remove the necessary paneling and bolts, you can just unplug the two connectors plugged into it and swap in a new unit. I have a spare csm in the garage but its out of an early build 02 so it probably wouldn't work for you

 

[mosschief]

fixed!

Thanks for your help! Turns out a buddy of mine knew where to get a used csm really cheap so I decided to try it. Worked like a charm.