Put in new battery, no alarm LED light at all, car cranks but won't start??

Hi all.

Hopefully someone could give me a clue as to what might be going on if there's a way to fix it myself before being told some bad news by the dealer(s) in regards to the dreaded 360 alarm. For the past couple years now my siren module hasn't been working, which meant car didn't chirp and when starting the car anytime the system was disarmed and ready to drive the red LED on the left dash would stay on steady all the time. Any other time it would be blinking.

Car had been to dealer several times for other services and they said it wasn't a big deal if I didn't want to fix it, and honestly I really liked it that way since I could always lock/unlock the car in silence and if I ever wanted to know that the car was 'ready' to be started the 'constant on' red LED was an easy indicator. In fact I preferred this to the factory way.

Anyways car had sat for past 6 months garaged with master power switch in trunk turned off. I put in a fresh battery since the one in there was old and I don't know where my charger went to. Anyways I turned the master power knob on, F1 pump starts making noise, little light is on in the luggage compartment all looks good. I then notice though that inside the car the alarm LED isn't blinking AT ALL. Just nothing. Using the key fob to try lock/unlock the doors has no effect, the doors don't lock or unlock with any press of any black fob. So, what's happened?

Everything else in the car works. Turn key to on, get the "CHECK OK" and turn the key to start it and it cranks and cranks without starting, as it would if you had sat in the car too long after getting in on a typical day and needed to hit the fob one time to start it.

I was hoping it was just the dash LED burnt out at first, but the fact that I can't get the doors to lock or unlock or the car to start, and of course any light from the LED makes me think the whole alarm system is broke and now I'm looking at a pile of $$$ to get a new one, as I've heard so many tales of you've got to get the whole thing, kit, fobs, la la la, and sometimes wait a long time to for the dealer to order it.

So is that likely to be the case, or is there something I'm over-looking here???

P.S. I tried a reset of everything by turning master power knob off, waiting a while, then back on, same crap.

 

I think that's what had already happened a couple years back as I first mentioned, and that extra alarm-specific battery only effects the siren chirping, and is also responsible for the dash LED having the different blinking configuration its had past couple years (i.e. flashing all the time, and when alarm is disarmed and/or car is ready to start it stayed steady red). Car always started, doors always locked/unlocked.

Now though, there's no light from the red dash LED light AT ALL (no blinking, no steady light, just nothing), also no door lock/unlock response from the fob no matter how many times you press it, and car doesn't start despite cranking. I have extra black fob and made no difference pressing that one either.

 

I have two black fob's and they both light up when pressed and have fresh fob batteries so it's not a fob issue.

Is there maybe a fuse somewhere for the alarm system that could be the culprit? (praying)

 

Checked on it and car battery polarity is correct. 'R' designation on the battery with + terminal on the right. Also when I turn on the ignition I get "CHECK OK" and the car cranks over but doesn't start. Would hope if the battery were wired backwards it would say something wasn't okay lol).

As far as any fuses that would effect specifically the alarm system, where would those one be located?

 

Don't have the PIN code unfortunately. And even if I did and could start the car that one time, I still need the fobs/alarm/dash LED to be working. I've seen the procedure to enter the PIN using the ignition dance and even if I did have the PIN - I wouldn't want to go through that procedure every time I want to start the car.

 

Alright after reading through the maze of the owners manual I have in PDF format, it looks like there is INDEED a fuse for the alarm system. It's shown on page 4-24 and 4-25 of the manual and is located behind the drivers seat in the third module with the 16 fuses. It is labelled in the manual as Fuse #76 (second row from bottom, second fuse in from the right).

So I'm gonna go take a look at this 'alarm fuse' and PRAY this fuse is blown and if replaced is the answer.

Anyone else ever had this issue - a blown alarm fuse???

And if do see it is blown and it blows again what is likely the culprit??

Will keep this updated and please keep any/all ideas coming. Thanks guys.

UPDATE -- ALARM FUSE WAS BLOWN!!!

AND WHY??? AT FIRST LOOKS IT IS A 5-AMP FUSE INSTALLED IN THE BOX, WHEN THE OWNERS MANUAL SAYS IT SHOULD BE A 30-AMP FUSE (?!?!?!)



I've had the car almost since new, and I can't imagine when/where/why someone would have put a 5-AMP fuse where a 30-AMP fuse belongs. In fact this was the only 5-amp fuse in the whole damn box. No wonder it blew. I'm assuming some previous owner or tech put this in there at some point?!?!

At the moment I don't have any spare fuses sitting around and not sure I can make it to autoparts store tonight. If I had to choose/pick a fuse to yank out from somewhere else in that fuse box and yank it and put it in the alarm spot just to test this and hopefully get the car started - which fuse would anyone suggest??

Maybe I'll pull #71 (radio) ???

 

Alright so I took out the radio fuse and put it in the alarm slot and...VOILA!!! I've got a flashing Alarm LED on the dash now.

Only NEW PROBLEM as mentioned above is that it appears alarm key FOB(s) are out of sync. Since they're not doing anything when I press the fob button(s). About how many times do I have to press one to get it in sync?

I do remember reading about this and someone said if I recall it can take 5-10 minutes of pressing the damn fob button over and over and over. Is this the proper procedure??

 

Gobble is the man indeed! I'd been using my original/factory fob just now and after pressing it a million times got nothing to respond.

That's the only factory fob I have however Gobble made me a couple of spares last year, and upon grabbing one of those it only took about 10 presses to sync up!!

The doors are locking/unlocking, lights are a flashing. Now for the big test. Will it start up? Stay tuned and I'll post a final update shortly, as if it's starts I'm going right to get some fuses so I can have my radio working as I swapped in that fuse lol.

As a note as well, underneath the grey carpeted cover behind the drivers seat that you have to remove to gain access to the fuses is a big black sheet of adhesive backed paper stuck on the underside that shows all the fuse locations and what they're for and values (although the owners manual was a better visual reference), and even on the black sheet there it says 30 AMP FUSE for the alarm.

We're talking at least 5-6 years I've had this car and just goes to show someone before me (whether owner or tech) doing something like that (sticking a 5 amp fuse in there) can come back later on to be an issue. Because I know in all this time neither I nor any tech I've worked with has replaced a single fuse in the car.

 

I'm confused as heck now. Because yes I think you might be right, and the more I look at the fuse box, and try and correlate it to the owners manual (within the column that says A5, A15, A30 as it relates I think to the amperage of the fuses) a whole LOT of things don't match up.

My owners manual says for the radio A10 which I think would mean 10amp fuse, but then next to it, it says +30.

And indeed sitting in the radio fuse slot since I've had the car all these years has been a 30 amp fuse, since I pulled it to stick in the alarm slot earlier. Does this mean my radio fuse is (and was for years) wrong too?!?!? Should it really be a 10amp fuse in there instead of the 30amp?

If someone could shed light on what the +15 or +30 designations mean that would help.

I'd like to make sure I have it accurate and that this thread is accurate.

 

Agreed on those points Stout and DrDon.

Hopefully in next few days / near future, someone can chime in with what those +15 / +30 designations mean here.

Because those numbers/designations are not just in the owners manual, they're ALSO on the layout/spec sheet that's stuck to the underside of the carpeted panel cover over that fuse area inside the car.

Does it mean you can use a larger rated fused by that amount? As in Ferrari saying "Yeah it's supposed to 5amp but you could put a 30amp in if need be" or is it just some techie number of electrical babble. It's got to have some meaning as it relates to servicing the fuses otherwise it wouldn't be printed in both places.

 

I don't see the word "instruments" texted anywhere. It just says nothing but simply the words "+30 Radio"

And to that effect I couldn't envision what extra 30 or more instruments or components there are on say - the radio circuit. I see a radio in the dash and...then another 29 other radio parts hidden somewhere in that same circuit???

 

I agree probably due to storage and the surge of current coming back in from a brand new battery once I turned the master power switch on, and that small 5amp fuse just couldn't take it, but I will be changing it back to 5amp since it appears that is indeed the correct amp rating (Aside from this mysterious +30 stuff).

I'll have to go through those other fuses too and make sure they match what they should according to the manual since it seemed liked there were a few that didn't match up.

And I forgot to mention - the car started and ran great, and I sincerely appreciate everyone's input and assistance here.