2004: Factory Alarm Question

[Town Car]

Hi Guys,
We just got a 2004 Sport Trac XLT for the wife, she loves it so far. I'm sure she'll have a fit later when the gas prices start haunting her.

Anyway, we have an alarm question. I have several other vehicles with the Factory Installed Alarm systems installed. On all my other cars, when I open a door with the alarm activated, the horn blasts, external lamps flash, and internal lamps light.

With this Sport Trac, it does nothing when I pop a door open, alarm activated.
Is this normal? Is the alarm system not connected to the horn and lamps?

I do this test with the drivers window open so that I can reach in and open the door.

Here's what concerns me, the shop where we got it says they added an aftermarket alarm system that they'll be happy to leave in and sell us for $700. We says, $700 Thats nutz, the car has a factory security system installed, we wont need to spend another $700, take it out!!

My concern is that they cut some wires, or otherwise disabled the factory system when they removed the aftermarket thing.

If someone here can describe the way the 2004 Security system works I'd appreciate that very much. I'm sure it's written in the FSM or Owners Manual, but we don't have either of those yet.

Thanks,
Steven

 

[JohnnyO]

I tried the same thing, no alarm went off on mine either. As far as I can tell from the owner's manual, the security system only disables it from being started without the programmed key (it has a chip in it) and does not honk the horn or flash the lights although you do have that feature on the key fob in case of emergency. I have a concealed weapons permit, so I don't worry too much about the key fob.

BTW, do get an extra key made now. It is much cheaper to get a key programmed if you already have two, you can do it yourself with some help from the owner's manual. If you only have one key, you need to go to the dealer to have them program another one on their computer, and by the time you buy a key and the labor to program it you're up to about $90. I learned this the hard way on the Ranger I had before.

 

[Town Car]

Great, that saves some hassle at the place we got the Truck.
Thanks for checking that out for me. My manuals should arrive soon so I can read up on all this..

I believe I can get the user manual at Dead Link Removed in the owners section, just now remembered that one.

So, we have no alarms, well thats OK.. still have the passive ignition disable, so we should be good, nobody pays attention to alarms anymore anyway.

I did get the two keys, so I'll get another one programmed ASAP, thanks for the advise.

Thanks a bunch for clearing this up for me.

Steven