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More Alarm Issues
Not to be outdone by the factory alarm
system, the aftermarket system managed to fail violently as well.
I was returning from my last delivery of the night at the pizza shop,
about a mile away from the shop. I was on the hill near the end of
Fishkill Rd, and I noticed on my way down the hill that the steering had
gotten very stiff. As I hit the brakes to stop the car, I realized
that the engine was no longer running. I stopped the car, shifted
into neutral, and tried to restart, but the engine wouldn't crank.
I tried shifting into park, but that didn't help either.
Since there was no traffic coming, I let the car roll
across Main Street, and into the parking lot at Pete's Hometown Deli.
It ran out of steam there, so I parked it, and lifted the hood to have a
look around. I tapped on a few of the relays that might be
involved in starting the car, I wiggled the shift lever around, and
looked at fuses, but it was dark, and starting to sleet / rain, and I
didn't have much desire to mess around with it a whole lot, so I called
the pizza shop and told them the car was dead, then I called home to get
my mother to come pick my wife and I up. I pushed the car into a
parking spot out of the way, and waited for mom.
The next morning, I called Elmesco Citgo and arranged
to have them come pick it up. It took them two full days messing
around with it before they finally determined that the problem was
related to the alarm / remote starter system. They removed the
entire system (there was a LOT of wiring, and relays involved) and
eventually got the car running again, but that left me with another
problem. My key only works on the drivers side front door. I
had been relying on the remote alarm system to lock and unlock the
doors. Not only does the key only work in one door, but the power
locks only work once in a while, when they feel like it. I'll have
to do something about the locks pretty soon! |