alarm?

[Nick C.]

I've done the searches and can't find my answer. I was opening my hood tonight (it hadn't been shut all the way) and the alarm went off. I didn't know I had an alarm. The theft light comes on in the dash cluster but I thought it was just for show.

My questions is how do I turn it on/off? When will it go off, besides opening the hood?

1996 xlt

 

[jimbo74]

whenever a door opens and the vehicle is locked....

 

[Robert]

You probably have Ford's anti-theft system. It was standard on all but the lowest models. It is activated whenever you lock your explorer with the power locks, a key or your remote transmitter. Whenever you do, your theft light will light up on your dash for 30 seconds. After that, it will begin to flash. Once it starts flashing your Explorer is armed. Any time a door is opened without using a key, remote or keypad on the driver's door after it's been armed will cause the horn to sound. The hood also has a switch (as you found out) that will activate the alarm if it gets opened without being disarmed first. In addition to the horn honking, the starter is disabled and can not be hot-wired. In addition to the above, the ignition switch has a tamper detector. If the system detects that the ignition switch has been tampered with, it will disable the starter and sound the alarm. To turn off the sounding alarm (or disable it) you can use your key in either door, push a button on your remote, enter your 5-digit code in the keypad or put the key in the ignition and turn it to on.

 

[Nick C.]

Thanks all I could need to know!