As I continue to fiddle with this 1997 Toyota 4Runner in my car collection I had an issue with a flat battery. When I tried to jump it, the alarm would go NUTS and I couldn’t get it started. Next, I replaced the battery, as soon as I turned the key the alarm would go off and the car wouldn’t start.
What I determined was this 1997 Toyota 4Runner (third-generation) had an aftermarket alarm installed, the Carbine Silencer 6918A. Keep in mind, I had NO idea what the alarm was when I shot this video. I will post a video on the procedure to determine what aftermarket alarm you have.
Here is what was happening:
The Toyota 4Runner was sitting and the battery went flat, down to 2 volts. Keep in mind, this battery was bad when I got it, but I was able to get it charged and curious how long it would hold. About two weeks.
When I tried to jump the car, the battery would go off, as soon as it had power.
The problem: when I left the Toyota I left it LOCKED. I manually unlocked it from the outside, with a key, to get into the vehicle. As soon as the vehicle had power, it detected it was unlocked, but seemed to not like me trying to start the vehicle. Immediately the horn would go off and it would disable the ignition.
To get around this, I opened the door, hooked the battery up, when turned the ignition key halfway to get to accesssory mode, and used the door buttons to unlock ALL doors. I pulled the key out, shut the door, and unhooked the battery.
Next, I waited about 1 minute, hooked the battery up, opened the car door, everything was unlocked, and the key would start. My theory is the car was stuck in some weird cycle thinking the alarm was “engaged” and as soon as I tried to start it the alarm would detect trying to start with the alarm engaged and set things off. In my situation, this worked.
But, what alarm do I have? What is that weird button under the dash? Stay tuned for my next video to answer these questions!
