[eric32]

Hello guys I have a very old 1999 Chrysler Seabring that is not a convertible and just a regular Seabring and the key has no chip inside it and has not fancy door key fob with a panic button or anything like that and I never had any problems since getting this car earlier this year but today when I went to unlike my door it should disable any security stuff and when I open the door now regardless on the driver or passenger side the panic alarm goes off and my headlights will flash on an off but yet my car starts just fine and drives fine and after ten minutes or so it finally goes off till I open up my door again.

I looked up on googgle and can't find any solutions as most of what comes up is for the convertibles which have a chip key which does stuff with the PCM of the car but mine does not have any of that stuff as I recently had a spare key made and its just a plain key and it works just fine. Is there way I can just disable the thing entirely and get rid of it or how in the world can i fix it. I know old school stuff and not much on this newer stuff like that. Hope someone can help me out here.

Thanks guys and appreciate any help

 

[matt167]

Going from memory. 2 door Sebring's were Mitsubishi manufactured and had a Mitsubishi engine/ They were basically an Eclipse I think. 4 Doors were actual Mopar manufactured cars

If it's a 4 door look at Neon's for a solution and if it's a 2 door, look at the Eclipse

 

[eric32]

Yes it does have Mitsubishi engine in it and is a two door model and not the convertible either which I know has even more issues from what I have been able to found out. I will look up a Eclipse and see what I can find. I hope to fix this or somehow get rid of the horn sound at least. I saw a video on some other vehicle that a guy had problems like this and he sprayed some wd40 on his door latches and stuff and it got rid of the problem. Something about the latches getting corrosion and sticking or something like that. I give that a try and see and the Eclipse part.

 

[LATECH]

Try removing F5 fuse located in the fuse panel ,left lower side of dash. That should kill the flashing lights and horn
If only the horn quits , then you nee to track down the pair of diodes for the horn and headlights circuit from the alarm module. They will be behind the left side of the dash
There is a pair of diodes. They have a blue wire common to both and the output is green with black trace for horn side and red for headlamp side. Clip the blue wire .

 

[LATECH]

The diodes will be hanging from the harness just above the fuse/relay/junction box under the left side of the dash.

 

[eric32]

Wow latech thanks a bunch for that information. I took my car out today and I was lucky it did not do it this time. I guess from the previous owner it has happened before but not as bad as it did with me. Before I went to unlock my door I unlocked my trunk and shut it again as that was the last thing I had opened up when this stuff started and saw a video on youtube where a trunk latch can be a cause of it. It happened on both doors. Today I looked inside my car and I unlocked my doors then locked them up again seeing the blue security light on the dash and unlocked my doors again before opening and the light went out so I opened up my doors and it was fine. I will look that fuse and take it out and eventually go from there and try to get those wires and clip them but it will have to wait till spring as I don't have a heated garage.

Thanks again and appreciated.

 

[LATECH]

could be just water intrusion at the door/ trunk latch switches . probably best to do some more checking / looking at symptoms before digging in.
Pulling door panles to dry and lube switches with water repellant in 35 degree weather is no fun

 

[eric32]

Yeah I planned on putting some lube sprain in the lock cylinders and stuff as saw that as well. I know the passenger side door I can't unlock with my key as the lock cylinder is so corroded I can't turn the key all the way without bending it so I just always leave it alone and in the locked mode and only unlock it from the inside. I have already had the driver side out and taken apart as I had to replace the door handle as it broke but I put everything back together like it came out and made sure the switch that turns off the security system was on good and tight.

 

[idrivejunk]

'99 is very old?
If you have an owner's manual, read up on the alarm. My 99 Pontiac junk's junk has factory settings ranging from just leave me alone to full scale freakout and you can guess which it selects by default.

 

[eric32]

I don't have any owners manual or half the interior in the car lol as it was given to me for free so the cost was right and I needed a ride to get me by for a while until I can get something good but it runs good and has good tires on it and gets me around from what little driving I do.

I took it out the other day and it did not do it this time but I unlock my door and then lock it again looking at the green security light on my door and then unlock it again and watch it go off so I know its safe.

Heck its supposed to go off when you start the car with the key from what I read but mine did not, it just kept running like it was just fine but me driving down the street with flashing headlights and my horn going off and on over and over again was not a fun experience but I had no choice as I had some errands I needed to do and the wife was away.

 

[idrivejunk]

Yeah that sucked! They just got really carried away with gadgets starting about then.

 

[eric32]

That is why on my s10 which is a 96 and it does not have any of that stuff I have spent the last 15 years replacing a part here and a part there so I can have something as old as possible for as long as possible and not have a bunch of computer stuff to worry about etc. I hate even to think of one day having to get another vehicle which I need to do soon for my wife as her Pathfinder is a 2007 just went past 200,000 miles and I don't know what I am going to be able to find for her but I just hope I can find something good and decent next year but I know its going to have a bunch of the gizmos that all newer vehicles have. I would never want to own anything built past 2010 any more then I can help it.

For me its just a bunch more expensive stuff to have to get replaced when it goes bad and stuff nowadays is not so easy to get on a lot of that. I miss the old days when you could buy a used car from somebody for a decent price and only have to maybe fix a few things and for the most part if you took care of it then it would last you for many years back in the mid 90's when I got my first car at 18. Now I am so much older now its not like that anymore.

 

[cerial]

Well what would Steve Smith(Red Green) do?
Use "the handyman's secret weapon" of course.



Clean the area around the door/trunk switches then use some black gorillia glue duct tape(its thick) to tape the switches in the closed door position.

You loose your dome light and door/trunk open idiot lights. But it usually keeps the alarm from going off everytime you open a door.

Temporary "fix" of course. But it will let you still use the car till you can fix it correctly.

 

[eric32]

I have been checking things and all the door switches and trunk seem fine and lately it has come and go. I guess the previous owner had the problem on the occasion as well but not all the time. What I have done to eliminate that happening is after unlocking it and it goes off I just keep the door open and lock it and then unlock it again and it goes off and quits. Unfortunately the switches on the doors clip to the lock cylinders and they are deactivated by the lock cylinder being turned. Unless thinking about it I just disconnect the switches on both doors and try to tape them in the open position and then leave them unhooked if it can work like that. I am new to security stuff as I am more old school knowledge then factory alarm systems.

 

[cerial]

Ok a bit more google fu.

You do have a . ..ing Body control module. There is no way to eliminate it or turn it off. If you do the car wont start or will start then shut off.

Now these early 98 to 03ish ones can be scary. If you do something wrong it can reset the BCM, activate the vats, then the car will need a new BCM.

It seems that you can "soft" reset it by turning the passenger key 5 or so times to the lock position. Or turning the key to the unlock position and holding it for 15 seconds.

Of course this only works if the passenger lock cylinder is not faulty.



There is also some that say disconnect the battery completly then turn the key on to discharge the capacitors. This "hard" resets the thing.
I dont recommend this at all.
In my experence ( happened with a 99 nissan and 01 mazda) doing a hard reset can place lot of strain on the old parts which may fry the capacitor(s) then it wont start without a new BCM.

This makes switching batteries fun. Pretend your like Indiana Jones having the new one ready and loosening the old terminals while holding them to make contact. The goal is to remove the old and replace the new getting both terminals on in under 30 seconds so that system does not reset.

Doing a soft reset is recommended. Your local Dodge/Jeep/Chrysler may know the soft reset procedure.

I have a collection of a few hundred service manuals. I have a 98-99 powertrain diagnostic one that I went through for a bit. It discusses general checking and troubleshooting the electrical system with lots of detail in pin layouts. It does include adding new key codes(using their tool). But it is vague on the rest of the body and the controls. Really high chance there is a supplimental.

Unfortunately I do not have the supplimental Body control systems that would go into detail on the body wiring, procedures, and troubleshooting.

Some dealerships have these procedures in a database or on a shelf. If your paitent coming in when they are not busy they may let you know the secret chicken dance to do a soft reset. Otherwise I would go to specific model forums where I imagine there is a sticky discussing the correct way to do a soft and hard reset. Once again the soft reset is lock cylinder based so even if you know it you may need to replace the lock cylinders for it to work. But hey it also might work and save you from tearing those doors apart in the snow.

 

[eric32]

Wow that is a ton of information and some of it is new to me and I can't thank you enough. I do know that the passenger door lock cylinder is very sticky inside and almost bends the key trying to lock and unlock the thing and it might be causing the on and off again problems but I can't say for sure. I have sprayed it with pb blaster to try and loosen it up and it did not help and when I had to replace the door handle on the driver side since it broke I watched a youtube video on how to do it before I tore into the thing and a guy mentioned the lock cylinders getting corrosion on the inside and he took it apart and cleaned it up but its to dang cold here in Ohio right now to be outside working and tearing things apart and I don't have a heated garage and a spacer heater would cost me a ton of kerosene to heat it up enough to try and I have nothing for lighting as I have only a trouble light to use.

I can' risk messing anything up and frying something especially in the body control module system or the PCM if it has any connection to things as well. I have had the battery replaced last year and it would have reset the system if I am reading it right and it only started happening to me off and on but I guess its been like this for a few years as the previous owner who gave it to me for free wanted to scrap it but its nothing pretty but it gets me around and it had some good tires on it and still runs well for its age and a solid body with no rot holes but just faded paint and clear coat.

Putting any big amount of money into it would not be worth it as it has near 200,000 miles on it and the transmission fluid was never changed during its entire time so I know its on borrowed time as its as black as oil and if I go to change it out I know a lot of the old debris will start clogging up pressure ports and channels in it and most likely either cause it to slip bad or give out. The oil though has been changed on a regular basis though from the literature they gave me on it. I will try the soft reset approach and see if I can get somewhere with it.

Luckly for me my key does not have the chip in it like the Chrysler sebring convertible does. My security system is not like it. I was able to get a new ignition key made and it had no chip to read off of and at least that was a break for me.