Marooned in Glendale "Americana" garage (CA) - Battery/Electrical

[kajcienski]

Howdy! and Help!
So...
She has started up just fine every time for last 5 years - first crank every time. I try to start her up today and - first position power/lights fine - second position fans come on - crank position and dead silence (though I do hear a click in the relay compartment). I do this a few times and can see the power just drain out when trying to crank. Okay, simple battery issue, no biggie. I wanted to get a sealed Optima battery anyway (had the common suburban battery in there - about 4 years old). I get the red top Optima and start to bolt it in. WAWAWAWAWAWA the alarm goes on when connecting it. This is the alarm that never worked before and had sworn it was removed, or at the very least was cut and disconnected. I'm not very good with this car's electrical system so I am stopping there and leaving the battery disconnected. What concerns me is that although I don't drive the car more than a few times a month, I don't understand why the battery drained like it did - not to mention why the alarm magically came to life and won't shut off. I just don't want to do anything to hurt the electrical as something is really screwy.
Is there anyone near Glendale that might be able to help solve this issue? Lunch on me... Or any advice would be very much appreciated!

[Ron]

Did you put the key in and turn it to run, AFTER the alarm started?

[kajcienski]

Did you put the key in and turn it to run, AFTER the alarm started?
Have not tried that, will give it a go! It never acted this way though and I use the battery shut-off quite often.

[David T]

Have not tried that, will give it a go! It never acted this way though and I use the battery shut-off quite often.

Sounds like the problem could be the alarm. It may have a circuit that disables the starter. The thing to do would be to dissect the alarm out but that takes at least a little electrical knowledge so you don't remove anything necessary for the car to work. Hard to give you any specific advice since any alarm is aftermarket and they are all different and each was installed differently. If you have any documentation on the alarm it could be useful in removing it. Obviously it was never completely removed. BTW the fans should not be coming on when you are starting the car unless you have the A/C on when the motor is cold. I assume you are on Long Island, where is Glendale?

[kajcienski]

Sounds like the problem could be the alarm. It may have a circuit that disables the starter. The thing to do would be to dissect the alarm out but that takes at least a little electrical knowledge so you don't remove anything necessary for the car to work. Hard to give you any specific advice since any alarm is aftermarket and they are all different and each was installed differently. If you have any documentation on the alarm it could be useful in removing it. Obviously it was never completely removed. BTW the fans should not be coming on when you are starting the car unless you have the A/C on when the motor is cold. I assume you are on Long Island, where is Glendale?

Hi Dave!
That all makes sense and a possibility I'll check into. I'm just stumped as to how the alarm suddenly became a player in the car as it has never engaged - no documents either. I'm actually out in Los Angeles now so far away from my familiar east coast group.

[Gregadeth]

Lots of people at Americana. My guess is someone touched your car and set off the alarm, it ran for a while, and drained the battery. As mentioned above, after hooking up the battery, insert and turn the key first in the door, then in the ignition. Some alarms can generally be disabled this way.

[kajcienski]

Okay - I think we are good to go. Again, this was strange because I've never used the alarm and the alarm has never been triggered in any way - and assumed it had been disconnected. Perhaps it just finally malfunctioned. It did indeed cut the starter it seems (hence no turning over despite the low battery) and am guessing it drained my battery as well. At any rate, I unplugged the fused red wire going into the alarm unit and seems to have done the trick in terms of no alarm and car now starting. I assume it can just be left this way and all will be good? (Minus the alarm functionality of course)...

[kajcienski]

This made me think... The car is in a spot where hundreds of cars are valet-ed per day. Is it realistic to think that one remote could have the same code as mine and have armed and set off my old system?

[Ron]

Possible.

But I'd lean toward the other "battery eating" suggestions, or the battery is toast. ...any of them, or even removing the battery could cause the symptoms on some units.

I'd find docs ...and pull it? :deviltail:

[Jonathan]

You could do the usual picture posting of your fuse relay area, engine bay or wherever other pieces of the alarm are and let the guys here help you figure out what it is going to take to get the wiring back to stock.

Glad you got it back to starting again. One thing that came to mind when I read this and saw the "dead silence" comment as well as your signature mentioning the car is an automatic, was if the gear shifter was not all the way up into Park, it won't start either. I found this out on my own car years ago when I had my phone or wallet or something up in front of the shifter and it was blocking it from being all the way into the forward position. And only off by a couple millimeters too. Doesn't sound like that was the problem, but thought I'd still mention it.

[David T]

I was wondering where Glendale is on LI. Your profile still says NYC so I assumed LI. I would have the alarm dissected out or get the documentation and have it thoroughly tested and operating if possible. The problem is there is usually no support for older alarms after a few years and all too often they were installed sloppily so the best advice is just an alarmectomy.

[DMCVegas]

I saw Glendale and misread that as "Armenia Garage". I still remember when that was a Thrifty drug store, and Harvard connected all the way to Central. Hell, I remember before Galleria 2 was built. I *literally* grew up in that mall as a child since my mother brought me to work after school since she was a store manager.

At least Foxy's is still there...

[kajcienski]

I was wondering where Glendale is on LI. Your profile still says NYC so I assumed LI. I would have the alarm dissected out or get the documentation and have it thoroughly tested and operating if possible. The problem is there is usually no support for older alarms after a few years and all too often they were installed sloppily so the best advice is just an alarmectomy.

My wife and I go back and forth between NY and LA - but feel more like a west coast person these days so I should update my location! In terms of removing the alarm, couldn't I just leave the fuse unplugged and keep the unit as is? Should I be concerned about a proper removal verses just leaving it the way it is now (disabled)?

[kajcienski]

I saw Glendale and misread that as "Armenia Garage". I still remember when that was a Thrifty drug store, and Harvard connected all the way to Central. Hell, I remember before Galleria 2 was built. I *literally* grew up in that mall as a child since my mother brought me to work after school since she was a store manager.

At least Foxy's is still there...

Foxy's is the best :) You must have seen quite a change in the area then! The Masonic temple across the street was just renovated and converted to offices/shops (opening next year) - same developer as the Americana. The Exchange is pretty dead now that the area trends towards the type of shops at the Americana and Galleria. Kinda sad... A few mom/pop shops along Brand are holding up, however all but one bookstore remains on the strip.

[David T]

My wife and I go back and forth between NY and LA - but feel more like a west coast person these days so I should update my location! In terms of removing the alarm, couldn't I just leave the fuse unplugged and keep the unit as is? Should I be concerned about a proper removal verses just leaving it the way it is now (disabled)?

The problem with leaving any of the alarm connected is that the starter circuit is still going through it and if it should malfunction it could leave you stranded. If it doesn't work it should be removed.

[DMCVegas]

Foxy's is the best :) You must have seen quite a change in the area then! The Masonic temple across the street was just renovated and converted to offices/shops (opening next year) - same developer as the Americana. The Exchange is pretty dead now that the area trends towards the type of shops at the Americana and Galleria. Kinda sad... A few mom/pop shops along Brand are holding up, however all but one bookstore remains on the strip.

Sad. I remember when the exchange was first built. My best friend and I were lurking up around the parking garage, pulling out drain grates for cars to slam into. He's a cop with GPD now. Go figure.

The area across Brand with the office tower was supposed to be Galleria 3 after they leveled it back in the 1980's. Sat vacant for a good many years. The two story building on the corner of Wilson & Brand is an old Woolworth's that still had it's lunch counter back in the late 80's. The Marshall's store at the corner of Broadway & Brand has that big, huge round entrance. That entrance is not original. The entire corner of that building was never built. It was designed to be cut-off because that was the main turn for the Pacific Electric trolleys that had to turn onto Broadway. Likewise across the street going up Broadway, there are still elevator entrances to those basements of those buildings. Glendale paved over them back in the early 90's, but they're still there.

As for the Galleria, I grew up in there, and saw that place go through a whole lot of changes. But I haven't been back in years. In about 3 months time, it will have been about 20 years since I last set foot in there.