My first thread-Electrical woes, please read

[Clark W. Griswald]

Hi. First let me start off by saying...umm hi. I have a '93 240SX convertible that I've had for about a week and its been great until today.

The first owner had an aftermarket alarm installed that the 2nd owner had "de-activated". I bought the car from the 2nd owner.

My overdrive on/off light would blink whenever I started the car so I tried to fix it by diconnecting the battery for an hour to reset the ECU. Well instead of THAT working my car wont start. Not only that, but it beeps at me, the parking lights and gauge lights blink on and off, and the car even locked me in twice.

All of this madness stops after a few minutes, but if I try to start the car it happens all over again.

I really need the advice of some electrical saavy members here for help. Yes, it sucks that this is why Ive registered here, but it won't be why I stay for a long time. Thanks in advance.

[toointoxicated62]

remove the alarm or get it professionally removed

or find out what type of alarm it is and deactivate it again? but this problem would probably happen again

[g6civcx]

Welcome.

You're new so I'll be gentle.

There is really no way to know how the first owner and second owner modified the wiring.

The best way is to get an FSM with convertible supplement and go through every single wire and component. Anything that should not be there should be removed.

I can do this in about a weekend. If you're not familiar with S13s it may take you much longer.

Electrical problems are really hard to diagnose and even if you take it a "professional", there is no guarantee that the problem can be fixed. There's no standard book rate for electricals.

Good luck.

[projectRDM]

The flashing O/D light is completely unrelated and signals a fault in the automatic transmission circuit. There's a diagnostic procedure outlined in the FSM to pull codes and decipher the problem. Disconnecting the battery does not clear anything stored.

As for the alarm, it's still active. Sounds like the 2nd owner merely put it in valet mode, disconnecting the battery has reset it back to armed status. It needs to be removed completely.

[jorge1190]

find the switch that de-activated the alarm...usually in the driver's side kick panel. Try turning the key to on and then flipping the switch. If it doesnt work the first time try again ive had this happen before with an alarm

[landins13]

yeah it seems that the alarm is your problem, you could take the car to an alrm specialist type shop, weve got a bunch on the east coast so i figure there has to be more out there. good luck and welcome to the community

[Clark W. Griswald]

Thank you all for the advice. Luckily I have a 2nd car so I'm not to discouraged. I plan on having this removed by a professional asap. Thanks again.

[Clark W. Griswald]

Well it looks as though I got to the source of the problem and my car is now fixed. It took a while but what I did worked. It was a complicated process of FLICKING THE ALARM SWITCHTO OFF! Thats right, crazy I know, but I FLIPPED THE ALARM ON/OFF SWITCH TO OFF!
What can I say, it's a classic Griswald moment.

[ixfxi]

permanently removing the wiring/brain will be a good solution if you care about not ever dealing with this problem again