Car alarms provide a sense of safety for your car. There are few things more effective at deterring an unscrupulous person than a good car alarm that alerts the area that something untoward is happening to your vehicle.
More advanced models of a car alarm can turn off your ignition so that a thief can’t get away, blare a dedicated speaker rather than just your car’s horn, or even alert you through a remote or your smartphone when something is happening.
That being said, nothing is quite as embarrassing as when your alarm won’t turn off. When this happens, it’s important to know how to disable car alarm features; namely the entire system.
A car alarm that is having issues can become a large annoyance very quickly. It’ll disturb your own peace of mind, your neighbor’s, and will alert thieves that your car is vulnerable.
Since your best bet is to disable this alarm, I’ve decided to create his “how-to” article so that it’s easier to get the job done.
What You Need
I have to warn you: this isn’t the easiest process, so if you aren’t technical and aren’t good at personally maintaining the upkeep of your car, then you may want to have this done by a professional. With that said, let’s get started.
The materials that you’ll need to disable your car alarm:
- Your Key Fob
- Protective Eyewear
- Thick Gloves
- Needle Nose Pliers
- Wire Cutters
- A Socket Wrench
- A Socket Wrench Extender
First, the reason that I mentioned your key fob is that this can be the source of your problem. Most newer vehicles use a key fob to deactivate their security systems, and a failed battery can inadvertently cause your alarm to sound for an indefinite amount of time.
If your key fob’s battery is starting to show irregularities when you use it, check the battery immediately and replace it if you need to.
This can save you a lot of time and effort and will save you from having to disable your entire system in order to stop your alarm from sounding off.
If it’s not your fob, then you’ll have a bit of work ahead of you. What’s the good news? You’ll be free of your alarm system making excess noise.
Step By Step Instructions
Step One: Protect Yourself
For this job, you will be exposed to several potential hazards. With this in mind, you’ll need to protect yourself so that you’re not injured during the process.
The two biggest hazards in this job are potential sparks and hot vehicle elements.
Since you’ll be working directly with the posts on your battery, sparks can occur, and since a stray spark can cause permanent blindness, it’ll behoove you to use a pair of safety goggles or other protective eyewear.
In addition to this, the engine of your vehicle may be hot, so having a pair of work gloves can protect your hand from the very hot surface. Also, if there is any corrosion on the leads of your battery, then the gloves will also protect your hands from this substance as well.
Remember, battery acid can be present in the white lead sulfate crystals that make up battery corrosion, which can definitely cause chemical burns.
- Optional Step: You can and should write down your saved radio stations; depowering the battery will probably cause you to lose them.
Step Two: Check The Fuses
This is almost an optional step, but it’s best to try this out before you commit to any other action. Sometimes, you can disable your car alarm by simply removing its fuse.
This is typically the case for factory-installed units. To do this, use your needle nose pliers to remove the alarm’s fuse. Sometimes, there’s a “fuse map” on the door to your fuse box, so consult this if you’re trying to find the right one.
If not, you’ll have to do it by trial and error.
Step Three: Remove The Ground Wire From The Battery (The Black One)
Once you’ve secured yourself, it’s time to remove the negative terminal wire from the battery. A sizeable part of this job is cutting the power from the alarm system to disable it, so start at disabling the terminal wire.
This terminal is usually jet black, and it sometimes has a minus sign below it on the body of the battery. To start the removal process, you’ll have to take your socket wrench and loosen the nut on the battery.
Dependent on your vehicle’s orientation in this area, you may have to use a socket extender in order to get a good angle. Once the socket is attached, wrench the nut in a counterclockwise direction to loosen it.
Once it’s significantly loosened, simply lift the black terminal from the body of the battery by its black wire. As a rule of thumb, I usually check for corrosion at this point; if I see any, I use some cola to wash it off.
Don’t worry about the red positive terminal wire; the battery will not deliver any power to the alarm system while the negative wire is disconnected. Wait an hour for the power to fully drain from the car.
Step Four: Disable An Aftermarket Unit
If this doesn’t work to disable your alarm, then most likely your alarm is an aftermarket product like Viper or Avital. In this situation, it probably has a battery backup that you’ll need to disable as well.
Typically, these don’t last forever without power from the battery, but you’ll have to find your owner’s manual to disable it. In any situation, you’ll need to cut the power from the battery backup in order to finally disable the alarm.
Step Five: Reconnect Your Battery
With your socket wrench in hand, reconnect the black wire to the battery and tighten it so that it won’t inadvertently disconnect during regular operation.
Once connected, your car’s computer should have reset and your alarm should be disabled.
Conclusion
Did you enjoy this guide on how to disable car alarms? It’s not the easiest job in the world, but it can be done. When I’ve had to do it in the past, I did it without too much issue.
I hope that this situation doesn’t happen to you, but if it does, this guide will provide you with all of the answers that you need.
Let us know about your experiences disabling a car alarm, and don’t forget to share this tutorial on your social media feeds.
