Have you removed an aftermarket car alarm? Did the car start afterward? :)
 

So, there I was minding my own business, burying business rivals in the dump, when my alarm went off.

I got it to go off, but it started again when I tried to start the car, over and over again, for fifteen minutes.

The best part of being stranded at the dump with a blaring alarm on a car I couldn't start is that I saw a squirrel when I went to replace my temporary plate with a permanent one, so I didn't have one.

The alarm kept going off, I couldn't start the car, I didn't have a plate, and I was stuck at the dump.

This took a while, but I think it looks great! :)
https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1667727073

I noticed this when I bought the car, but the flipper wouldn't have known anything about it:
https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1667727107

Not only was I stranded at the dump, but one time my brother asked to go to the store. I said "We're taking Mom's car, but I need to get something out of mine." I unlocked the driver's door and the driver's only--and he sat in the passenger seat.

"How did you get in here?! Whatever, now I need to get something out of Mom's car."

When I turned my back the alarm went off and my brother had his hand on the steering wheel.

I finally got it to turn off, I went to grab the thing again, once more the alarm went off again, and my brother's hand was on the steering wheel again.

I had him get in Mom's car and it went off while we were away.

Everyone said to follow the wires, but I thought that would require removing the dash.

No, just the panel under the steering wheel.

Oh and all of this:
https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1667727371

The car only came with one key, it isn't factory, and it was wearing out. It is actually twisted from needing to turn it too hard.

I couldn't see how far the wires went and where the alarm was mounted until I removed the center console and the trim above it.

It turned out it didn't go past the center console at all, so I absolutely didn't need to remove the glovebox, but I found this!
https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1667727501

So, some dealership installed a tracker and for some reason hid a key.

These were all of the components that I found:
https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1667727684

I didn't find a sensor, but 5 wires coming off of the harness were cut.

The screws were also missing from the steering column.

The first owner bought the car on 08/31/2005 and sold it on 03/05/2007 with 21,000 miles.

Who the heck trades in a car after 16 months and 21,000 miles?!

The second owner traded it in and the dealership auctioned it on 02/01/2021
with 96,379 miles.

It was auctioned again on 05/30/2022 with 104,057 miles--almost 16 months and 8,000 miles.

It sold again on 07/07/2022 with unspecified mileage and I finally bought it on 09-20-2022.

I am the fifth owner and the fourth in 24 months?

I keep wondering if there was some hidden problem which led people to get rid of it after a few months or a year.

I also wonder if it was repossessed.

Perhaps some complication from that resulted in people getting rid of it prematurely.

There are 155M Google results for "removed car alarm car won't start," so it probably would have been a better idea to just disable it.

I have read dozens of pages about it, but most people who ask for help don't report back, so I don't know what actually worked.

Someone said they missed a connector, another person found a 30-amp fuse looked good, but was blown, a third found a kill switch, a fourth found a "Clutch pedal stopper," and a sixth didn't reconnect all of the wires.

I disconnected the battery, disconnected all of the aftermarket wires, and spliced the wire for the starter back together, but just because there is a physical connection doesn't mean there is an electrical one.

I covered the cut insulation on the several small wires that had t-splices.

One person kept saying to test the starter, but that was one of many where they were abducted by aliens or something.

Since I won't necessarily go away..... test the starter, see if it gets powered or grounded.

There is always a Shouty video!
 

Did someone indicate they wanted you to go away?

https://ecomodder.com/forum/attachme...1&d=1667862713

[turn down the volume]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0MCNOppasIThat's just a less interesting version of Kaylee's solution!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00io4VSA6VwThis guy introduced me to Solder Seal Wire Connectors! Instead of crimping wires together, it releases a little solder, and then heat-shrinks the connection!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMqt5AoWPyI

Unfortunately, I can't get any before Friday and I need my car tomorrow!

So you'd rather goof off searching for and posting odd replies than fix an issue that causes you angst? I see an issue here.

That you never clarified what the heck you meant with?Yes, obviously.

It was a fuse! :D
 

I was trying to make a list of things to check.

Fuses were always among the first things.

Someone told me to check a fuseable link and while I was there I started checking the most likely fuses.

Apparently I blew fuse #17 under the hood, the 30-amp AM2 Starting system, "IGN" and "IG2" fuses. I swapped that with another fuse and she's alive! :)

I think that I will order the storage compartment from a 2004 and give myself a third cupholder.

Now I have a hole in that piece of trim, so I will start pricing that.

What else could I put there? :)

The car runs and drives, but the airbags, overhead lights, and radio are disabled,
 

and my car sounds like a chandelier! :)

I finally made an attempt to clean the inside of the windshield and it is better, but I need to do a better job.

There is still a chocolate or something streak.

When I put my car back together I kept getting some kind of residue on my hand.

I think whatever is on my windshield is also on the glovebox.

The car didn't have screws for the steering column, so I needed to order some, and I had difficulty reinstalling the first panel. I removed the screw from Mom's car so I could verify which it was, but apparently it didn't fit because another panel was supposed to overlap it, and the screw goes through both.

If the previous owner was a chain smoker, that could be the residue along with a coolant leak fog. Both have a noticeable odor. Ammonia and or "409" peels it off like onion layers.

The car doesn't smell like smoke, but I think the previous owner was dirty.

I don't know that there was a coolant leak.

In previous cars I have periodically needed to wipe the inside of the windshield. I read the dash outgases over time and leaves a residue.

I am going to try glass cleaner and a microfiber cloth.

I forgot to mention that the power went out when I removed the key, but all of that was fixed when I swapped a fuse from my Accord.

My 1300 mom canceled and my Saturday mom canceled for 3 weeks, but her adult daughter was able to sit in for speech, so I drove out, and I had just enough time to drive to the recycling center half an hour in the other direction.

It is the only place that I know which is supposed to recycle glass, but the webpage lists an address, but says it is next to one thing, and across the street from another.
Those things were a couple of miles away, but they were apparently closed for Veterans' Day, so I wasted an hour, and was late for my last client for nothing.

Dang nab it!

Veteran's Day slipped past me. I missed the free chicken dinner at the VFW. :(

It will soon be two weeks since my car was vandalized. The ignition switch housing is in the hands of someone who will try to find a new lock cylinder and install it. Then I can repair the car.

Right now I could short out the switch that buzzes when the key is inserted and then use an smol flat-tip screwdriver to turn the electrical switch that is danging under the dashboard.

Too late for that.

May the odds ever be in your favor.

In this case, incompetent vandalism. They drove a self-tapping screw into the lock cyllinder and snapped the head off, immobilizing the vehicle. They never got to the point of finding out it didn't even have a battery.

Xist -- I figured out that the one time it failed to start [with a flat-tip screwdriver] was because I turned the swich counter-clockwise. It goes straight to start without power to the ignition. I'm getting more comfortable with the startup procedure, and it not just going off arbitrarily in midflight.

An OEM part will appear as a Christmas present and be installed by the owner/operator. Before the 'professional with thorough electrical knowledge of your vehicle' is back [from the Philippines] with the original part.