Previous owners make me sad inside

[yh125d]

So, when I bought my 06 fusion I knew the previous owner had an aftermarket stereo. There was a sub level remote left behind under the drivers seat, an amp ground wire next to the donut, and an amp power line and fuse under the hood. I figured "neat, ought to make it a little easier when I install my stereo":awe:

That was a year ago, I'm just now getting around to messing with the stereo. I pull the stock unit back out to see what I'm working with. Only one pair of patch cables there, blah. I'm still gonna have to run another line.

But wait, the stock sub amp connector (seen here on the left http://www.sonicelectronix.com/item_...11B-FDK11.html ) is missing. . That explains why I noticed a couple weeks after buying it that the 6x9's in the rear deck set up as subwoofers aren't functioning. ugh.

So I look around in the dash, can't find it. Fuck. My current plan was to replace the stock HU with my alpine unit and see how it sounded before I bothered buying components for front door+sail panel (I had coax before). With my alpine and the 6x9's running, I'd probably be satisfied and not have to bother with the rest (the stock "audiophile" system really isn't all that bad, even without the 6x9s, and from what I hear it gets considerably better with an aftermarket HU)

But wait, what's that I see there?

Is that... a KEY? A key that looks strangely familiar? A key that would look a lot like the second key fob to my car if I had one but I don't since there was only one when I bought the car?

*20 minutes of twisting, reaching, cursing, scared that im gonna drop my leatherman pointy side down on my face while trying to cut this ziptied thing out of place-ing later*

And it's out why yes, it is a key fob, taped to a module of some sort and some wiring.

I dont recognize this module as anything. hrmm

Oh, but then I remember, when I bought the car it also had some useless aftermarket alarm. It was annoying as shit, so I took the battery out of the fob and threw it in the glove box. I figure the module does something to recognize the key and enable the alarm to do its business


So I take the key and try to pop the trunk. Nothing

So I try to start the car, nothing. I guess that it's immobilized. So I put my normal key next to the module, and try again, and it starts! Awesome, now I have to have 2 keys to start my car >.<

Good thing I didn't buy another key from the dealer for a spare last week like I was going to


So, now I come to the point. How the F do I extricate this chitty alarm from my car? Mostly I want it out so I can use the second key for a spare, but it might be worth $50 or something on CL too (its a pretty decent autopage alarm I think)


I don't know anything about what all parts and pieces go into a car alarm, nor where and how its wired into stock electronics, nor where any of the components are or usually are installed. Anyone have experience in this?




Cliffs:
prev. owner had stereo, and fucked it up when he put the stock back in

Also had shitty car alarm, which meant I had only one key and no spare, and almost bought another key fob from dealer for $100+

How do I remove a car alarm?

 

[Zivic]

the key was likely used for a remote start vs an alarm. I would take it back to the dealer and ask them to remove it, or replace it with a quality remote start

 

[jaha2000]

Zivic would be correct on the remote start for sure. A lot of the aftermarket systems require you to do what you saw.
And like he said, take it to the dealer. Your going to pay more to get it fixed, but lord knows what your going to find trying to remove it.

 

[Shawn]

Aftermarket alarms are a nightmare. Even if you can get it out without fvcking up your car it is unlikely that you will have everything you need to sell it.

I put one in my 94 miata years ago just so I could have power locks and power trunk. I had actuators in the doors and trunk which were all connected to the alarm brain, as well as a proximity sensor in the center console (which was always too sensitive), the alarm antenna which went up the back of the car, the siren under the hood, and an engine immobilizer feature which connected to the ignition (car would not start unless the alarm was off. it also locked the doors when the key was in the on position). I also had to tap into the emergency blinkers so that they would illuminate when you locked or unlocked the car, and when the alarm was going off.

I had all sorts of problems with that damn alarm. Sometimes the car would refuse to start because of issues with their wiring harness which daisy chained the factory harness. Eventually I got stuck somewhere because somehow the connection to the ignition overheated and melted the wiring harness. It would always go off randomly too. I couldn't even turn it on if I parked in a parking garage because every time someone would drive by it would set it off and run my battery down.

Before I sold the car I removed the engine immobilizer from the ignition and set the proximity sensor to minimum sensitivity (which made it so nothing short of an earthquake would set it off). Hopefully the new owner isn't having any problems.

 

[yh125d]

It's not for a remote start, i seem to remember looking up the model back in the day when i first got it and it didn't have that feature.


It doesn't affect me at all now that I just don't use it, so I'm not going to bother paying anyone to remove it, and it sounds like a pain so I'm not gonna try it myself either. Plus if I leave it, I can sell it as a feature if I ever sell the car


Also, I felt around behind the dash some more, and found the sub cables! They were tucked up underneath the climate control wiring. So that's all hooked up now and my 6x9's are working. Doesn't matter much though, it doesn't particularly sound better.



So alarm's taken care of (ignore it), now I need to figure out what I'm gonna do for audio. I'll make a separate thread for that I think

 

[Zivic]

It's not for a remote start, i seem to remember looking up the model back in the day when i first got it and it didn't have that feature.


It doesn't affect me at all now that I just don't use it, so I'm not going to bother paying anyone to remove it, and it sounds like a pain so I'm not gonna try it myself either. Plus if I leave it, I can sell it as a feature if I ever sell the car


Also, I felt around behind the dash some more, and found the sub cables! They were tucked up underneath the climate control wiring. So that's all hooked up now and my 6x9's are working. Doesn't matter much though, it doesn't particularly sound better.



So alarm's taken care of (ignore it), now I need to figure out what I'm gonna do for audio. I'll make a separate thread for that I think

the key in a box is for and aftermarket remote start... they put it in there and pull the code from the chip in the key to allow the car to start without the key in the ignition.

 

[satyajitmenon]

the key in a box is for and aftermarket remote start... they put it in there and pull the code from the chip in the key to allow the car to start without the key in the ignition.

This. Unfortunately, it's how a lot of aftermarket remote start systems work.

 

[exdeath]

That's pretty retarded. You just need a RFID included with the alarm/remote start system. Programming a PATS system to authenticate with a new RFID, as when you have to get a spare made, isn't that hard. At worst, you need a physical "dumb" key cut that doesn't have a RFID of it's own so you can toggle the ignition switch during the learn process with the remote start's RFID present.

 

[yh125d]

Decided to go the simple route for the audio, just gonna use the same setup as my last car, but with a new set of components up front since I have tweeter mounts now

 

[XZeroII]

lesson: never buy a car with aftermarket parts. You never know what the previous owner messed up.

 

[Meghan54]

lesson: never buy a car with aftermarket parts. You never know what the previous owner messed up.

How very true.

And, never think about how many farts the driver's seat's foam and cloth had to soak up/endure during the previous owner's use.

 

[BoberFett]

How very true.

And, never think about how many farts the driver's seat's foam and cloth had to soak up/endure during the previous owner's use.

The previous owner of my car was this incredibly hot young Ukrainian girl that I used to work with. She can come fart in my car some more if she wants.