Help 99 Mountaineer won't crank and has an annoying ringing alarm in the cabin

[Kriegen]

I have a 99 Mountaineer and while I was driving, a high pitched ringing alarm started sounding in the cabin. I pulled over and turned off the engine but the ringing continued and the car would not start. NOTE: The ringing is not a perimeter alarm and is hardly noticeable outside of the truck if the doors are closed
On the instrument panel, the voltage level looked a bit low so I checked the battery and noticed the terminals were cracked and in bad need of replacement. I was able to get someone to jump me which worked no problem and was able to get home.
Took my other car and got some new terminals, put them on and reconnected the battery. I used a voltmeter to check the battery and it was reading 12V but the engine would not crank, just a single click like the battery was dead.
Additionally, the only time the ringing stopped was when I had the battery disconnected and later after going over the fuse boxes, it would stop when I pulled the fuse for the ignition switch but it restarted as soon as I put the fuse back in.
I plan on tomorrow checking the voltage at the starter to see if there is a problem somewhere in the battery cable but don't know what might be causing the alarm.

Thanks for any assistance.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Welcome to this forum! Does it sound like the chime when the key is in the ignition or when you leave the headlights on?

 

[Kriegen]

Thanks for the welcome.

Neither, it's a steady high pitched alarm sound

 

[Kriegen]

Checked the voltage at the starter and it was 12 volts. Pretty much clueless on where to go now. I can start it so long as I have a boost and I don't think it's the battery because I can pull the battery from another working vehicle and use it with the same results.

 

[TheJackal]

Does it look like there was ever any kind of aftermarket alarm?

Sometimes an interior siren is added to the system to make it uncomfortable to be inside. Why it would suddenly activate like that tho is a mystery.

 

[Kriegen]

I haven't found an aftermarket alarm installed yet.

 

[Kriegen]

Found it, turned out to be an aftermarket remote alarm and shutoff device that a previous owner had mounted under the dash above the center vents. Once the verdamnt thing was taken out, no more ringing and no problem starting.

 

[BrooklynBay]

Thanks for the update!

 

[Kriegen]

Have to say thanks to the forum for this one. Learned a hell of a lot of stuff about my mountaneer while tracking down this problem from various how-to's on here

 

[patrick112390]

but what i want to know is how you were able to jump it starter disable-is starter disable, and it shouldnt matter how many volts you have....cheap alarm system?

 

[Kriegen]

Looked pretty cheap. Consisted of a box maybe 2x2x.5 inches, harness, elec tape wrapped wires(6) connected to a small alarm, fuse and a relay like you might find in the fuse box under the hood.

Another benefit is a lot of dust removed from normally uncleanable places like the dash, instrument cluster, steering column, ignition, under the center console...

I basically started at the drivers door taking apart everything that could be trying to track it down.

 

[TheJackal]

but what i want to know is how you were able to jump it starter disable-is starter disable, and it shouldnt matter how many volts you have....cheap alarm system?

I guess it can be explained as easily as the thing activating out of the blue in the first place. :

For the record, does the control box have any markings or words on it?