Need a Clifford Alarm Expert

seafood10 · 09-27-2008, 04:44 PM

Hi, I have an 84 that has the old Clifford alarm in it and it still appears to function correctly. I am having issues with my car as there is no spark and the fuel pump is not coming on, I have another post discussing this as I thought it was either the DME or the DME relay but I swapped Motronics with another car and determined that the my computer is just fine, so my next thing to eliminate is the Clifford. I would like some help with some tests that I can perform to see if that is the issue or how I can just uninstall the Clifford all together.
Here is my post regarding the my car when I thought that it was the Motronics:
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/431975-new-dme-relay-did-not-make-my-fuel-pump-work.html#post4197471

Thanks in advance for your help.
Sean

RoninLB · 09-27-2008, 05:15 PM

I had one that included the Clifford front trunk solenoid lock. Disconnect the lock if you have one.

otherwise my alarm black box was on drivers side next to the fresh air blower in the trunk.

dig it out and just disconnect wires or trace all for removal.

seafood10 · 09-27-2008, 05:26 PM

Here are a few pics of the unit. Is it really as simple as disconnecting all of the wires? There was one wire spliced into the power side of one of the fuses at the panel. I cut that to see what would happen but no luck.

Zeke · 09-27-2008, 05:35 PM

I'm no clifford expert and I have one, too. I don't think cutting the power to the unit is the way to restore a circuit disabled by the alarm if, in fact, that is what is wrong.

slodave · slodave's Garage

What are the lights doing on the keypad when you are trying to start the car? I have the same alarm. Did you disconnect the hoses from the air pump? The unit on the left of the second picture.

1986911 · 1986911's Garage

Sean, I installed various Clifford's in some of my cars in my younger days. If I recall correct Clifford had a type of "fool proof" system that would allow the car to still start if there was a complete system failure. It looks like your immobilizer relay may have failed and is stuck in the "open position". The best advice I can give you is to trace the alarm wires from the brain back. I see in your picture you have 2 relays probably one for the air horn in the picture and the other for the ignition kill. If the wires do not go to the air horn pump then they are probably for the flashing lights. Clifford did not offer on board light relays until the 90's. If one relay has wires running to the pump\lights then its the other one. The relay will have four wires one ground, one trigger that is positive and the other 2 go to whatever is being powered or in your case interrupted. Those are the two wires you need to put back together to bypass the alarm.

Have you tried switching the relays I would try that first??

Good luck.

Manny

seafood10 · 09-27-2008, 06:19 PM

Yes, I did disconnect the air hose. Right now both lights are on, so it is disarmed. The alarm does operate as it is supposed to. The other day I had to jump the car from my truck and when I attached the jumper cables the alarm went off, so I am not sure if there was a surge that fried something in the alarm or what? I jumped it from my Diesel when it was running and it has a high output alternator for towing.

seafood10 · 09-27-2008, 06:21 PM

Thanks Manny, I will try that tomorrow when I have some daylight. I appreciate the post and will let you know what happens.
Sean

slodave · slodave's Garage

I have an issue with mine. I think a solder joint has busted in the brain. The alarm trips randomly, so I have mine on valet as well, but mine starts without problem.

I second switching the relays around. I have three black ones like you and one that is in a slightly different location that has a clear case - this one is not plug and play, but soldered into the harness.

1986911 · 1986911's Garage

Good luck, hey what programmer are you running in your Dodge?

I have a F350 2003 dually with a diablo sport tuner, magnaflow exhaust, banks intake and a suncoast converter with a shift kit. It runs 14.90 in the quarter mile down at Bradenton motor speed way. It smokes all the way down the track like a freight train! Its awesome!!!!!!

Manny

seafood10 · 09-27-2008, 06:31 PM

Hey manny, I have the Edge Juice w/ attitude. I also upgraded with a Super B Turbo fro BD and have straight through Exhaust as well as triple disc converter and upgraded valve body as well as Mag Hytec Trans pan and some other goodies. The Edge is really a great unit, gives me all the vitals of the engine and it also has a Turbo timer. I have not timed it but the guy who did mine pulled 1200 hp out of his Cummins.

1986911 · 1986911's Garage

Sean that truck sounds like a beast, you gotta love the way those cummins sound straight piped! Keep us posted on your alarm progress.