Old Clifford Alarm Removed - No Start

[78_Targa]

Cwitt and I removed an old Clifford alarm from 78 Targa last week. Now my car won't start. The starter cranks but the car simply will not fire.

Given the number of old 911's on the road that had alarms installed by the PO, surely someone has had this very same experience.

Thank you!

[KNS]

Where were the wires disconnected from? Were they hooked up to the Batt positive wiring? I've got an ancient alarm system hooked up to my car (spliced into the positive battery cables and various fuses). I've been afraid to remove it because of what you've encountered.

[arbita1]

I removed my old Clifford from my SC last year, so maybe I can help. There should be a relay that has a Clifford stamp on it. Mine was next to the master cylinder. Did you see that?

[Neel]

Originally Posted by KNS

Where were the wires disconnected from? Were they hooked up to the Batt positive wiring? I've got an ancient alarm system hooked up to my car (spliced into the positive battery cables and various fuses). I've been afraid to remove it because of what you've encountered.

+1 Clifford also...

[aston@ultrasw.c]

I had the exact same experience.

The alarm module is removed from a multipin connector, this connector needs 2 jumper wires for the engine to start.

I don't know the exact details for a 78 but if you take a look at the wiring schematic you can figure it out. Look for a wire to the DME and one to the alternator.

[blucille]

as others have said, look to the areas where you removed parts of the alarm system, a relay here or a module there, and seek out any factory wires that were cut in order to install the alarm all those years ago.

in other words, if you notice a wire that you have insulated/taped up, and it matches a wire of the same color a couple inches away (and that wire is red or yellow, most likely) they should be connected to each other.

[aston@ultrasw.c]

The multi pin connector I referred to is part of the original wiring harness. Which made be wonder how the car ran *before* the alarm was installed.

In any event, a couple of jumper wires pushed into the sockets and taped over will do the trick. Red to black and red to blue or some such.

[cwitt]

Since 78_targa implicated me in the alarm delete evildoing, I figure I'll post the update on how we solved it this morning.

It stood to reason that we screwed something up on the alarm delete, so we started with a focus on the ignition system. Following the Bentley manual, we tested for voltage at terminal 15 of the CDS -- it showed a healthy 12.4VDC. We plugged the CDS connector back in and decided to check things the old fashioned way. We pulled the center wire off the distributor cap, held the tip of it about 1/4" away from the fan shroud, and cranked the engine -- to our surprise, we actually had spark.

We screwed around re-reading ignition system diagnostics for a while, to no avail. For as much as we had cranked the engine, it just didn't smell as gassy in the garage as I would expect, so we turned our focus to the fuel system.

Again following the Bentley manual, we pulled the airbox cover and filter, and manually lifted up on the air flow sensor -- doing this with the ignition turned to 'run' triggers the fuel pump relay. We could hear the relay clicking on and off, but we didn't hear the fuel pump running.

AHA! Surely we must have missed an alarm cutoff relay for the fuel pump, we thought. Or maybe 78_targa has the world's quietest fuel pump.

We dropped the belly pan, and check for voltage at the fuel pump terminals while lifting the air flow sensor. No voltage there, so we traced the wires back up into the trunk. We didn't spot any extraneous relays, so I thought I'd at least confirm which relay was clicking. I put my hands on all 3 relays in the fuse panel, while we lifted the air flow sensor again, to see which relay clicked. When the air flow sensor was lifted, I saw a slight spark inside the casing of the fuel pump relay (colored red in this car, and located at the rear of the fuse panel), and suddenly...

The fuel pump took off! And it wasn't the world's quietest, not by a long shot.

Turns out, in all of my screwing around during the alarm delete, I had physically dislodged the fuel pump relay, just ever so slightly. We seated the relay fully, and the car started and ran beautifully.

So, in the end, it's still my fault, but I feel somewhat exonerated that it at least wasn't a bungled (un)wiring job.

Cheers,

[Neel]

Good post, Curtis.. I guess I'll go ahead and start my removal... If I have problems, I now know we have resident experts!!!!

[cwitt]

This is all from memory, but here's my recollection of how we removed it:

- There was no keypad in the car. The ribbon cable that ysed to be connected to the keypad was hard-wired into the alarm brain, and strung thru by the gauges. We just threaded it back into the trunk area.
- There was a starter cut-off relay that intercepted a largeish yellow wire to the rear of the fuse panel. We removed the relay, and patched in a hunk of 10ga wire, because the original wires wouldnt reach to be soldered back together.
- There was a wire tapped into the trunk light switch. Pretty simple to remove.
- There was a trunk latch trigger. We just disconnected the wire - haven't yet removed the switch.
- There was another relay inside the smugglers box, for the alarm air horn pump. We removed the air horn, the pump, and the relay.
- There was a power lead that ran directly from the brain to the battery.
- There was a ground lead the I think was screwed into a fender or something.

Basically, just be careful, and chase every wire coming out of the brain, properly disconnect it, patching any circuit interruptions caused by relays back together.

Oh, and don't dislodge the fuel pump relay!

Cheers!